Princess Twilight and the Disastrously Daunting Delegates

Chapters

Awkward Introductions
Terribly Awkward Dinners
Awkward Facts
Awkward Confrontation

Awkward Introductions

Preparing for a visiting head of state takes a lot of work. It involved planning a proper reception, arranging schedules, preparing food, lodgings, and a hundred other things. You wanted to put your best hoof forward when the leader of another nation came to visit, and that’s what I intended to do for the Archon of Freeport.

Shame a bunch of protestors had left a huge mess in Ponyville right before the Archon was supposed to arrive. And by ‘shame’, I meant a panic-inducing crisis. Fluttershy had objected to some of my latest policies, specifically to cutting back the Everfree Forest and how that might affect her animal friends. Arguing with my friend had been bad enough, but it had gotten a whole lot worse when she had somehow managed to pull together a whole protest almost overnight. It seemed that Fluttershy’s friend Tree Hugger knew quite a few repeat protesters, and they’d organized themselves on relatively short notice.

Thankfully, Fluttershy and I had managed to find a reasonable middle ground between us to end the protest. Granted, it was the original compromise I’d initially proposed, but dwelling on that wasn’t going to accomplish anything. Far more concerning was the mess left behind by the less-than-considerate protesters. You’d be surprised how much trash a group of people could make over even just a couple of days, especially when they hadn’t bothered to clean up after themselves.

Thus it was a scramble to clean up the approach into Ponyville. Every imaginable type of trash was to be found: empty cans, half-filled trash bags, broken objects, a discarded tent, food wrappers, and other thing whose purpose I could only guess at. With the Archon set to arrive far, far too soon, I was pitching in to make Ponyville look presentable again.

“Ugh, what a mess,” I said as I levitated some banana peels into a trash bag.

Storm tied the full trash bag as she spoke in a dry tone. “At least most of the protesters left after Cloud talked her paramour down.”

“Yeah, at least we got that,” Spike agreed as he gingerly picked up a can of peaches. “Or I’m hoping most of them are gone after the huge mess they left.”

Applejack tossed a trash bag onto a cart, adding to the not inconsiderable pile already on it. “If they were all still around, Ah’d consider puttin’ them to work an’ teachin’ ‘em to clean up after themselves like honest ponies.”

“I’d actually consider that if we weren’t on a time crunch. As it is, we don’t have time to hunt down the protestors and round them up for cleaning duty.” Not to mention that might undo all the progress I’d made with Fluttershy to end the protest in the first place. Punishing everyone with community service for littering wasn’t exactly the way to reconcile with the opposition.

I did my best to concentrate on what I could deal with right then, and magicked up my master checklist for the preparations. “Okay, we're had a few missteps, but I think we're through the worst of it.” I grimaced at the mess we had only put a dent into. “Who thought it was a good idea to let them camp on the same road the Archon’s going to use?”

“Freedom of assembly laws?” Spike hazarded as he scratched the side of his head

I sighed. “Right, the law. The thing I'm supposed to upkeep for the greater good of ponykind.”

“One you did an admirable job of, Highness,” Storm said in the level but gentle tone she used when she was trying to lift my spirits. “It took a lot of restraint to allow their protest.”

“Thank you.” I grimaced as I remembered seeing their camp from my castle. “But I'd prefer to not be protested by Fluttershy again. That was ... different.”

Spike rubbed the back of his neck. “Definitely something I never thought I'd see.”

“Those assertiveness lessons certainly took hold, to say the least.” I chuckled a little despite myself as I scooped up more trash with my magic.

Storm’s wings flicked ever so slightly. “Pity they did not do so a bit ... less.”

I frowned as I thought the matter over. I didn’t like getting into an argument with Fluttershy, but I knew what I was doing was the best for the greatest number of ponies. Pruning back the Everfree Forest would make Ponyville safer, as well as open up more farmland—something that was near and dear to the hearts of the farmers in Ponyville. Especially when that would give them the opportunity to either expand existing farms like Applejack hoped to do, or let some of the local laborers start up their own farms.

While cutting down another strip of the Everfree Forest wasn’t great for Fluttershy’s animal friends, it was something that needed to happen. I was willing to work with her to mitigate the worst effects of my plans, but they were going forward regardless. As I had come to learn, being a princess meant that I couldn’t make everypony happy. Celestia once told me that in politics, someone somewhere always loses no matter what policy you put into place. Somepony has to pay the taxes, and somepony has to lose their plot of land for a school to be built.

“I'm sure Fluttershy meant the best,” I eventually concluded. “Even if I have to disagree with her.”

Applejack cheeks bulged as she looked under the canvas of a discarded tent, and her hoof snapped to her muzzle to block the smell. “Think maybe ya can disagree in a way that don’t make a mess next time? It hardly bears thinkin’ of what Flutter’s pals would have done to our town if they’d been here longer than a couple of days.”

I narrowed my eyes at Applejack. “Yes, next time I enact a controversial policy I’ll make sure that it only ticks off the types of ponies who don’t leave behind messes.”

“You won Fluttershy over in the end,” Storm said as she assisted me with filling another bag. “Or at least, my cousin did.”

“I’ll take it if that’s what gets the protest to end.” Cloud mediating a compromise with Fluttershy had been a break. I was going to need to find a way to thank Cloud for that later. Shame there wasn’t nearly enough time to do that before the visit, especially when I realized how much still needed to be done. “I still need to check up on the concessions, make sure the band is playing Freeport’s actual national anthem now, see if the guest rooms are ready, double check decorations, double check that the weather will be fine with Rainbow Dash, make sure a dozen special arrangements have been made—Pinkie! How’s the food and decorations coming along?!”

My trust in invoking Pinkie’s name to summon her was rewarded when she suddenly popped up beside me. “It’s a disaster!” she cried. “Woe’s us! You won’t believe how the cupcakes turned out, and the cake’s not even—” She stopped when she saw Spike frantically shaking his claws and Storm shaking her head. “I meeeant, everything is going great!”

My eyes narrowed as I looked between all of them. “You’re not hiding anything from me, are you?”

Pinkie’s smile widened well beyond what was technically needed for a friendly smile. “What? Nooo. Everything is, um, great in the castle’s kitchens. Definitely not a burgeoning disaster the likes of which Ponyville has never seen before—which is saying something for Ponyville.”

I felt my teeth grinding together. “Pinkiiiiiiiiiiie...”

Pinkie’s eyes started darting around. “Sorry, gotta go and deal with a not-budding disaster!” Before I could ask her what was going on, Pinkie bolted back towards the castle.

I frowned. “I should go after her. This sounds like something I should handle.”

“Ah’m sure it’s fine, Twi,” Applejack reassured me. “Pinkie always finds a way to pull through in the end. How about you concentrate on what you really need to work on, like meeting this Archon of yours?”

“When's she supposed to get here, anyways?” Spike asked.

I glanced at a nearby clock and my eyes widened. “Soon! Way too soon! The Archon’s going to be here in an hour!” There was still a big mess around us, and a quick examination of myself confirmed I was in no way ready to meet a foreign dignitary. “I’m not going to be even close to being ready to see her in time!”

“Should we arrange a delay?” Storm asked. “We ... could perhaps try to ask her train to decelerate.”

My heart sank as a growing disaster started playing out in front of me. “But then the train would be late! Who knows what sort of chaos that could cause to the train schedules?! Not to mention that would make our train system seem less efficient to the Archon, which could lead to her having a poor impression of all of Equestria! What if that leads to a breakdown in trade relations? What if she finds out we caused the train to run slowly? That could cause an entire international incident!”

“And that would just be catastrophic,” Spike remarked.

“Exactly!” I bit my lip as I started crunching the numbers. “There’s not going to be enough time to check everything before she gets here, much less clean myself up and make myself presentable!”

Spike scratched his chin in thought, and then snapped his fingers. “I've got an idea! Storm, can you go get Rarity to help Twilight get ready?”

Storm nodded. “If you will excuse me, Highness.” She zipped off with surprising speed for a pony in heavy armor.

Before I could ask what Spike was up to, he called out to Applejack. “Hey Applejack! We need this place clear in an hour!”

“No can do, Spike!” Applejack tossed another bag onto the cart and wiped her brow. “Ah'll need another hour an' a half fer this mess.”

“Really?” Spike shrugged helplessly. “Okay, I'll see if Rainbow can help out then. She was busy with managing the weather, but I’m sure she can make time to help you finish this on time.”

Applejack’s nostrils flared. “Now sit yer tail down an' let her know Ah got this! If Twilight needs it done in an hour, Ah can get it done in an hour.” She started working double-time to shovel everything onto the cart, leaving nothing but grass and wheel tracks in her path.

Spike shot me a self-satisfied smirk. “They hate being outdone by each other—we might as well take advantage of it.”

I pursed my lips as I watched Applejack work like a mare possessed. “That's kinda terrible, but I'm afraid I’m going to have to allow it. And I can only hope it doesn't make me a bad pony.”

“Think of it as knowing how to manage ponies to maximize their performance.” Spike took the scroll I’d been holding. “For example, let me double check to make sure everything will be ready in time. I know what you want, so I can tell anypony what they need to know if something comes up.”

I bit my lip. “I don’t know. That’s a lot of responsibility.”

Spike scoffed and waved me off. “I’ve got this. You just worry about looking good for the Archon.”

As though in response, Storm returned with Rarity in her arms. She gently put her down as Rarity looked me over. “Twilight, darling, Storm said you have a fashion emergency?”

“We're due for the Archon in an hour, and Twilight’s...” Spike took a moment to search for the right thing to say as he examined me. “...more Twilight than Princess, right now.”

I flashed Rarity a smile that felt hollow even to me. My mane could use a bit of work, then some trash had gotten onto my coat—as well as some ink and other things from the other preparations for the Archon’s visit. “I could perhaps use a bit of work.”
Rarity rubbed her chin as she considered me. “Of course, of course. Well, we can fix that easily enough. Come along, Twilight. We have no time to waste if we’re going to have you ready in time.”

I looked between the ponies gathered around me. “Only if you’re sure the preparations will be okay without me.” I really didn’t like the idea of leaving everything to everypony else while I prettied up, but I couldn’t meet a foreign leader while looking like a mess either.

“I am sure everything will be fine, Highness,” Storm assured me. “You are perfectly fine for day-to-day, but this is a first meeting with a foreign leader. I suggest going with Rarity and trusting everypony else to do their jobs.”

I gave everyone the best encouraging smile I could before leaving. “Thanks everypony. I don’t know what I'd do without you.”

“Panic?” Spike suggested.

I let out a huff. “I don't always panic.”

“Of course not.” Rarity pushed me along. “Now come along, dear. We've got a lot of work to do.”

The next hour flew by as Rarity got me ready. At least one of the things that had gone right was Rarity’s dress had been made well ahead of time. I could always depend on her like that. Hopefully the same could be said about everyone else as the preparations went ahead without my direct supervision. There just never seemed to be enough time for these type of things, at least not to the degree of readiness I wanted.

Whatever I wanted, time had run out. Storm informed me that the Archon had arrived in Ponyville along with her procession, so I made my way to the castle entrance hall to greet my guest. A banner had been set up to greet our visitors, a band was ready to play the Freeport national anthem, and a hundred other details readied—hopefully with nothing overlooked. It was way too easy to miss something and have it bite you in the rear.
“You look very good, Highness,” Storm murmured as she stood by my side, probably sensing my discomfort as we waited.

“You think so?” I looked myself over, and everything seemed alright. The dress was up to Rarity’s usual high quality, and she did a good job with my mane.

Storm nodded. “Yes, for what my opinion is worth.”

“Rarity really outdid herself!” Spike said as he smiled up at me. “You look like a million bits.”

“I did the best I could.” The corner of Rarity’s mouth smirked as she primmed her mane. “I would have preferred more time to work, but we work with what we have. I just hope I didn't miss any important issues on account of lacking information. I doubt the Archon has an intense hatred of a particular color or style we were never warned about before now, so I do apologize if something comes up.”

“I doubt her views on fashion are that extreme,” Storm said.

“I have nothing to complain about,” I assured her. I magically summoned my checklist to look over, just in case. “Though maybe I could recheck my checklists to be sure that—”

Spike snatched the scroll from me. “I got this. Hhmm.... check, check, check, and check. Yup, you're good.” He quickly put the scroll away, making me suspicious about how thoroughly he reviewed everything.

I craned my head to try and look over his shoulder at the list. “Um, you sure?”

Spike rolled the list up before making it disappear in a puff of fire. “Trust me, I'm sure. I went over everything before coming here, and everything was hunky-dory.”

“Now we just have to wait for the Archon.” I swallowed, my throat feeling way too dry. “I'm sure it'll be alright. The worst thing that could happen is that we somehow offend the Archon and completely ruin the single best opportunity we’ve had to improve relations with Freeport in hundreds of years.” The smile I’d been wearing became much more strained.

“Well, at least war's totally off the table.” Spike mulled over that idea before asking, “It is off the table, right?”

“I rather doubt one of Celestia's former students would declare war on her,” Storm told him.

I nodded, trying to slow the beating of my heart as my nervousness grew. Waiting was so hard like that. All my fears of what could go wrong just grew and grew on me. “Freeport and Equestria haven't been at war with one another for a very long time.”

“Oh, good.” A frown formed on Spike’s face. “Um, when was the last time?”

“The last real war we had was four centuries ago,” I told him. “Though that was more a heightened state of hostility between Equestria and Freeport than an actual war. After the battle of Two Magnuses, Equestria started a period of aggressive pirate and slaver-hunting that lasted until Torch’s Rebellion.”

Storm nodded. “And that was before the Council was even in charge, let alone the current Archon.”

“The Council has generally avoided war,” I explained. Giving a history lecture to Spike was keeping my mind off the Archon’s arrival, so I kept talking. “Not that relations between our nations have been entirely peaceful, though. There were a number of incidents involving pirates, warlocks, privateers, and military actions over the centuries, but Freeport generally tries to avoid major conflicts with its bigger neighbors. Their existence depends on everyone remaining relatively neutral to them since they need to be able to play Equestria, Gryphonia, and the Zebrican Empire against each other.”

Spike scratched his chin as he thought that over. “Right, that’s something to do with nobody wanting anyone else to control Freeport?”

“Exactly.” I smiled as Spike remembered some of the details of his lessons. “Freeport is an archipelago sitting between everyone else. It would disrupt be balance of power if anyone else ruled Freeport. Though it also helped that Freeport was traditionally a haven for pirates and smugglers, and has had a fierce independent streak. For example, Freeport was occupied by the Zebrican Empire during the Morning Wars, and Ushabti lead a rebellion that—”

Storm gently but firmly interrupted my lecture. “I think they are coming, Highness.”

“Oh!” I stood up straight before whispering to Spike, “We’ll finish this later.”

Spike rolled his eyes and the corner of his mouth quirked. “I had a feeling that would be the case.”

We all quieted as the castle doors opened. The band started up, and I got my first look at Archon Sunset Shimmer. She wore a suit of bronze scalemail and a red magus robe. She carried herself regally, her head held high as she crossed the floor, giving a martial and business-like demeanor to her approach.

Following behind her were several officials, as well as a pair of bipedal golems about three meters tall, each armed with weapons proportional to their bearers. Along with the larger golems were several smaller constructs that came across as oversized chickens—though only vaguely at a second look, since it was more like the skeletons of some sort of avian with a long tail and unusual foot talon that reminded me of the skeleton of a dromaed I’d once seen in a museum.

At Sunset’s side was a changeling, one of the Free Minds I’d read about. The Free Minds were a group of changelings that had managed to separate from Queen Chrysalis many centuries ago. They were quite the colorful group to say the least, but what else would you expect from the City of Exiles? Freeport was well known for being extremely cosmopolitan, if rough around the edges.

Archon Sunset stopped short of me, and her followers bowed. She gave me a small smile as she formally addressed me. “Princess Sparkle. Thank you for welcoming us in your home. We are honored to be your guests.”

“It's nice to have you visiting my castle, Archon Sunset Shimmer,” I said, making myself try to get through the somewhat awkward and stiff introductions. I still didn’t have a lot of experience at this type of formal meeting between heads of states. Normally Celestia or Luna handled this stuff. Cadance too, for that matter. Though that might have been part of the point of having Archon Sunset visit me, so that I could get experience at it.

Which is why I felt the pressure of the room grow as Sunset stared at me with what came across as a slightly expectant look. After a couple of seconds passed as we stared at one another before Storm leaned in to faintly whisper to me. “She was asking for formal hospitality, Highness.”

My eyes went wide. “Oh!” I hastily worked to correct things. “I welcome you as my guest, and offer my hospitality and protection while you stay in my home.”

Sunset smiled and nodded, though her changeling companion raised an eyebrow before half-smirking in the Archon’s direction. The Archon must have prefered to use the old rules of hospitality. Maybe that was a result of being taught by Princess Celestia, or perhaps just personal preference. It probably didn’t hurt that the old rules of hospitality made certain requirements on guests and host. There were plenty of beings in the world that took those rules very seriously.

“Thank you for your kind offer, Princess Sparkle,” Sunset said. “Allow me to introduce Magus Kukri Doo, and Strumming Heartstrings.” She motioned towards the changeling accompanying her and a pegasus mare that looked a lot like Lyra, which figured when they were cousins. How she came to work for the Archon had to be quite the story that I would have to ask later. Though I had a lot of questions for all of them. Like how Sunset had gone from being Princess Celestia’s student to running Freeport. I’d been briefed about that, of course, but there was a difference between getting an intelligence briefing and hearing something from the pony herself.

“Nice to meet you,” I said to both of them. “You’re of course welcome here as well, and we’ve made room for everypony here at the castle.”

Strumming inclined her head. “Pleasure.”

Kukri bowed slightly. “This one's honored to meet you.”

I motioned to my own friends as I made introductions. “This is the captain of my guard, Captain Storm Kicker, my assistant Spike, and my friend Rarity.”

Storm politely nodded, while Spike waved eagerly. “Hiya!”

Rarity smile pleasantly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“It’s nice to get to meet all of you,” Sunset answered politely.

“If you need anything, I'm sure we can provide it,” I told them. “Just ask and we’ll do what we can.”

“I would request quarters for my staff, and storage for our possessions.” Sunset nodded to her golems.

“They shouldn’t be a problem,” I said idly as I studied the golems. They looked to be unique designs, or at least they didn’t look like any golems I’d seen in the past. Granted, there weren’t thatmany golems in Equestria to begin with. For one, they were extremely expensive to build, and their intelligence was a whole other can of worms. Most could only be given very specific and simple instructions which usually amounted to ‘Attack anyone that enters this room without my permission.’ Traditional golems weren’t capable of anything more complicated than that, and it was illegal in Equestria to attempt to make sapient golems outside of carefully regulated lab work that had to be approved ahead of time by the college of magi. Though not a whole lot of progress had been made in that field last I’d heard. Of course, a lot of that research was secret.

Maybe I could ask Sunset about her golems later? I smiled at the opportunity. “It's nice to get to meet another one of Princess Celestia’s students, by the way.”

“The Archon is a lot more than that.” Kukri puffed out her chest. “She's this one's teacher, and the progenitor of Freeport's budding school of magi.”

“I read about that,” I said. “Starting your own school is pretty impressive.”

“I had a lot of help,” Sunset told me. “Though I’m proud of the results.”

“You should tell me all about that later, I admit, I've wanted to start my own school someday too. I have some really fun ideas for a school, even if there is a ton of work to be done to make it happen.”

Sunset grinned knowingly. “You're not wrong about that. I hope you’re ready to bury yourself in paperwork.”

“I wouldn't mind trading notes about it sometime.” I smiled, feeling encouraged. “It wouldn’t hurt to learn from somepony who’s already gone through the process.”

“Maybe.” Kukri looked around the audience hall. “It looks like you're off to an interesting start.”

I chuckled at the mention of my castle. “Not just anypony has a castle made by the Elements of Harmony.”

Strumming nodded as she looked around too. “There’s a lotta crystals here.”

Sunset’s face became a mask as she hummed neutrally. It felt like I was losing the interest of my guest, so I decided to switch topics. “So, is there anything you would like to do while you're here?”

Sunset shrugged. “I don't really know Ponyville, so I'll defer to you.”

I recalled some things to do with Archon Sunset from my mental list. “How about I show you around the castle? That should fill up the time between now and dinner, and then tomorrow I can show you around town. Ponyville might be small, but it has a lot of character.” That much was true, though the town could have a bit too much character some days, like when a monster attacked. Hopefully we could avoid that while my distinguished guests were here.

“Sure,” Sunset said neutrally. “I'll look forward to seeing it then.”

The procession broke up into smaller groups after leaving the main hall, letting me show Archon Sunset around without having to deal with a huge group of her retainers and other hanger-ons. Though her two golems still followed us, their thumping footsteps making me worried they might crack the crystal floor. Thankfully the floor seemed to be holding up just fine. Having one of them smash right through it would have put a dent in things.

Once I was done showing Sunset around some of the basic facilities of my castle, I decided to show her my library. Archon Sunset had been polite thus far as I escorted her around, but I was worried she was growing bored. I wanted to impress her, and I hoped taking her to my library would help. As a fellow former student of Celestia’s and a magus, she must like books too.

“... and this is my library,” I said, trying to sound as confident as I could while I opened the door. “You're free to read anything while you're here. It’s all organized under the Royal Canterlot Library System, so everything should be easy to find if you need any help.”

“Thank you.” Archon Sunset stepped into the library and looked around with seeming polite interest. Her gaze swept over the shelves, but nothing seemed to be catching her interest.

My smile became strained as the seconds ticked by. “So was there anything you might want to read while you’re staying here? My books are your books.”

“Thank you, that's very kind of you, Princess.” The Archon stepped up to a bookshelf and idly looked over a few titles. “Any you're especially proud of?”

“I do have some rare books over here.” Seeing an opportunity to really wow her, I moved to a section of the bookshelves that had a protective glass cover and magical preservation wards over them. “Like this unique copy of Starswirl's spellbook, and some other first editions and rare copies.”

“Oh really?” Sunset’s eyes sparkled with interest for the first time since she’d arrived. “Granted, I was more inclined to study the likes of Sunbeam Sparkle. I imagine you probably have some of her works, considering.”

“Oooh yes, I have her full collection of magical and philosophical books.” I waved towards where I kept those particular books. “My family library even has a few of her first edition tomes, in addition to some of her private writings.” Being a longstanding noble family within Canterlot, my family had collected a lot of materials—all of which I had gone over and organized, of course.

The slightest frown crept its way to Sunset’s features. “The family library in Canterlot, right?”

I nodded. “House Sparkle has quite the collection there. Nine centuries of family writings and collections add up.”

Sunset’s frown grew. “So ... over there, not here?”

My ears wilted as I realized the social goof I’d just made. I wanted to impress her with my library right here only to go off and talk about an entirely different collection. “Um, no. There hasn't exactly been a huge reason to bring them here. They are really old after all, and I didn't want to damage them in transit.”

“Of course not.” Sunset turned away from me to return her gaze to the glassed shelf. “I wouldn't ask you to do something that unreasonable.”

“Maybe I can show you the Sparkle library later?” I offered, trying to do some kind of damage control.

“Maybe someday,” Sunset said evenly.

Great, looked like I flubbed this part of the tour. Perhaps it would be best to switch to something else. “Right then... Maybe you would like to see my lab too while you’re here?”

Sunset turned her head to look at me out of the corner of her eye. “Sure. What are you working on?”

“I'm currently working on the theoretical application of friendship magic and defensive shield matrixes within the context of Midnight's Fifth Law on Umbral Magic,” I told her, leading the way to my laboratory basement. “I think it might be possible to create a shield spell with different varying properties outside of traditionally understood applications.”

Archon Sunset pursed her lips as she followed me. “Hmm, I'm not quite seeing how that would work. Admittedly, it takes a while before any papers you publish come to Freeport, and I haven't been keeping up with your work.”

I tried not to let the fact she didn’t really read any of my academic reports visibly bother me. “That’s not a problem, I can show you the details of my current project.” I stopped in front of a chalkboard where I’d written down the forumlem theorem. “I'm still working on it. I only got to all of this last weekend, but I think the potential results are really interesting.”

Sunset’s eyes started scanning the blackboard. “Hmm. Very interesting.” She stopped at the section detailing the interaction of the central spell matrix with the regulatory flow that would allow the changing of the base spell. “Oooh, that’s a problem.”

I grimaced, trying to follow where she was looking. “What is it?”

Sunset cleared her throat and gestured to a specific part of the board—one that had a very obvious math error that I had somehow missed. One that ruined my entire formula.

“Oh.” My ears flatted to my head. “Oops. Guess I made a mistake during one of my late-night study binges.”

“We all make mistakes,” Sunset said in that carefully guarded tone she had been using the entire time. “It should be easy enough to fix.”

“Right, easy...” Impressing the Archon of Freeport was not getting off to a great start.

Author's Note

Thanks to my editors Chengar Qordath and Comma-Kazie for all their help, and to my pre-readers Brony Writer, wolfstorm56, Trinary, 621Chopsuey, Rodinga, PoisonClaw, and Swiftest for their hard work editing.

Terribly Awkward Dinners

After a rough evening spent failing to impress Archon Sunset, dinner time finally rolled around. Thankfully, Pinkie and Spike had outdone themselves and set up quite the spread of food, a major plus when I had so many prestigious guests sitting at my dinner table. In addition to the Archon, we had been joined by ambassadors from Gryphonia, the Zebrican Empire, and Westmarch. According to my advisors, the ambassadors had come along with Sunset as she visited Equestria, probably to gauge how she interacted with me and other Equestrians. That wouldn’t have made me quite so nervous if not for the fact that my first meeting with the Archon could have gone better. Failing to please the Archon was one thing; it was quite another to do so in front of foreign dignitaries. Making Equestria look bad was one of the last things I wanted to do, especiallywhen Princess Celestia had asked me to make the best first impression I could for the Archon.

Maybe dinner would turn things around? It was hard to go wrong with everyone sitting around a table and talking.

I smiled as everyone settled in at the table. “Thank you for joining us for dinner, everyone. It’s nice to have so many guests tonight.”

“Thank you for the invitation.” Archon Sunset gestured at her fettuccini with her fork. “This looks really good.”

The ambassadors murmured in polite agreement with Sunset’s sentiments, and I felt my smile widen. “Thank you. I’ll make sure to give the chefs your compliments later.” I’d have to find a way to thank Pinkie and Spike for their help later.

“Equestrian hospitality continues to be as welcoming as its always been,” the Zebrican ambassador said, raising his glass in appreciation. Ambassador Kadri was an older stallion, his body covered by wrinkles and scars from many long years with the Zebrican janissaries. He’d reportely been given his ambassador posting by Sultan Batur as thanks for his dedicated service.

Gerda, the Ambassador for Westmarch, smiled as she served herself a spoonful of salad. She was a diminutive gryphon, with bright eyes and vigor in all her movements. “I'm certainly impressed, Princess. I’ll have to be careful or I’ll have trouble leaving your castle.”

The Ambassador for Gryphonia, Baron Goldpeak, narrowed his eyes in the direction of the Westmarchian ambassador. “It's ... passable.”

“Was ... there anything else you wanted?” I felt a few hairs in my mane start to curl. “Or is something not to your satisfaction?”

Baron Goldpeak huffed as he tied his napkin around his neck. “A bit more meat on the table would've been nice.”

My ears flattened to my head. “My apologies, we normally don't serve a lot of meat here.”

Even as a princess, I would have had to special-order that particular dish. There simply wasn’t much of a demand for it. Sure, there was the odd pony with a taste for meat, but it was pretty unusual. I had concentrated so much on Sunset—a fellow pony—that I hadn’t considered having meat served for dinner.

Goldpeak huffed and picked up his eating utensils. “Then I will make do.”

Gerda narrowed her eyes as she moved her glass to her beak, murmuring just loud enough to be heard. “Or the ambassador could be a better guest.”

“It helps when you tell your host what you desire before dinner,” Kadri added, his tone sour.

I moved quickly to try and put out the fire before it got too big. “It's not a huge deal either way. Just something to keep in mind for the future.”

“Yes, let's just move on,” Sunset declared, not looking up as she ate.

The room grew quiet as everyone turned to their meals with varying levels of enthusiasm. Gerda and Baron Goldpeak were trading glances out of the corner of their eyes while Kadri ate in stoic silence. Not a great start to dinner. Not wanting the evening to fall apart, I turned to Archon Sunset to try and spark up a more pleasant conversation. “So Archon, I've heard some pretty exciting things about your school. I’m particularly fascinated by how your school is branching into multiple schools of magic. Little surprise when you can draw on the magical experiences of all the different cultures that live in Freeport.”

Sunset smiled. “I do think the Academy has been doing quite well.”

“And I've heard you want to start an exchange program with Equestria,” I said. “That would be quite the change, since I don't think Equestria and Freeport have ever done that before.”

Sunset turned her head to face me. “No, we haven't. But the early tests with Northmarch have gone well, and I believe Sultan Batur is interested as well.”

“The Sultan is entertaining the idea,” Ambassador Kadri confirmed between bites. “Once a couple details have been settled, he should fully approve the exchange.”

“Glad to hear it.” Sunset’s eyes flicked to the two gryphons at the other end of the table. “And it’s a program I’d consider extending to other interested nations as well. The strength of the Freeport Magic Academy is in the diversity of its classes.”

Goldpeak and Gerda weren’t quick to reply, but I knew how I wanted to respond. “I know I would have been tempted by it when I was attending Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.” I might very well have gone if not for the fact that I didn’t want to be away from Princess Celestia for so long. That could have been to my detriment, thinking back on it; I spent so much time trying to please Celestia that I completely neglected things like making friends. Well, all I could do was try and make up for it now and help create opportunities for others in the future.

“Glad to hear it.” Sunset smiled. “The endorsement of another princess would help push things along and encourage students to join the exchange program.”

“And maybe I can visit Freeport someday? You've come all this way to visit me here, after all, and I’d like to see this new magic school.” My smile widened at the idea of all I could do while visiting Freeport. “I’m sure you’re collecting quite the interesting library over there too.”

The corner of Sunset’s mouth quirked. “I’m going to guess I’m stating the obvious when I say you’re a bit of a bibliophile?”

I chuckled. “Just a little bit. I just really like learning, and what better way to learn than to read?”

Sunset hummed neutrally as she returned to her meal. “Honestly, I think the best way to learn is to get your hooves dirty. You learn a lot more by doing something than just by reading about it. That’s why I try and encourage more hooves-on experiences in my school’s classes.”

“That ... is another way to look at it, yes,” I said, not wanting to be too contrary to my guest. “There is always that debate between what you can learn in the classroom versus out in the world.”

Gerda inserted herself back into the conversation as she prepared another bowl of salad for herself. “If you are planning on visiting Freeport, I hear that the Freeport Magic Academy won’t be the only new school you’ll get to visit.”

“Yes, Freeport’s new naval academy,” Kadri said in a carefully neutral tone. “Another one of the Archon’s changes since coming into power.”

The ambassadors all turned their attention to Sunset, even if they were trying not to be obvious about it. It made me wonder what this was all about. Equestria and Westmarch each had their military academies, and it seemed Sunset wanted the same for Freeport. The Zebrican Empire and Gryphonia still had ... more traditional arrangements for training their leaders, drawing on the nobility and those with connections to find them. Were they worried about what Freeport was up to? Ugh, I’d spent so much time making everything perfect for the Archon just showing up that I’d neglected looking into recent events in Freeport and what they meant.

Sunset took time chewing her food before responding. “The academy’s part of the reforms for Freeport’s military, yes. We’re moving away from having our forces consist entirely of mercenaries, which means we need professional officers to lead a professional military.”

The Zebrican general inclined his head slightly. “True, though one has to wonder how Freeport's status might be shifting with recent changes.” An upraised eyebrow from Sunset prompted him to continue. “Freeport has traditionally been neutral in world affairs. One can't help but wonder if its new leader will take Freeport in a new and bold direction. After all, the Council did much to change your country when they came to power. Should we not expect the same from you?”

I got the sense there was something else he was asking without saying, but I wasn’t entirely sure what that was. Could it be about the possibility of Freeport shifting its place in relation to its neighbors? Sunset had been a student of Princess Celestia. It made sense that some would worry about Sunset aligning closely to Equestria, since that would be a pretty radical departure from their past policy. Add that to the fact that Freeport seemed to be expanding—or at least reforming its military, and suddenly I sensed the tension that had been in the background of the room since we had all sat down.

I wasn’t entirely sure how to deal with the situation I found myself in. Talking about politics around the dinner table was pretty much asking for trouble, but just shutting down the conversation would seem rude. I tried to think of what Celestia would do in a situation like this, but the conversation around me kept going.

Sunset shrugged, oblivious to my thoughts. “Yes, well, I've been changing quite a bit since I took power.”

“Like the military buildup?” Gerda prompted.

“Military formalization,” Sunset corrected—though whether that was really more correct or just a political nicety to brush aside what her nation was doing, I couldn’t say. I seriously needed to do more research, but I’d spent all my time on the preparations for the visit itself. I had thought the Archon’s visit was just going to be a nice meet-and-greet political function, not a very serious political discussion about national policy. That made me feel terribly unprepared.

“A more effective military, however you look at it,” Kadri said, his plate forgotten. “This new military academy on top of your magic school, work being done to expand Freeport’s shipbuilding capacity, a national arsenal being constructed, and a dozen other things besides. One has to wonder what exactly you plan on doing after you’ve ... ‘formalized’ your military.”

“For the moment, we’re just working on building a proper state-run military,” Sunset said, evading the ambassador’s question. “That’s going to take years of work as we move away from using mercenaries.”

“That’s a lot of money being spent,” observed Gerda. “Money spent that would help you control the sea lanes around your islands.” It wasn’t hard to imagine what the Westmarch Ambassador was worried about: they depended heavily on overseas trade for their economy, and a new Freeportian navy might cut some of that off. Westmarch and Freeport had a historic rivalry with both being heavily involved in naval trade, even coming to blows a few times over the centuries.

I moved in to try and keep the discussion between my dinner guests from exploding. “I’m sure the Archon just wants to keep the sea lanes safe from pirates. That’s something we can all work together on.”

“Perhaps.” Gerda sat back in her seat as she stared at Sunset. “Assuming that’s one of Freeport’s goals.”

Sunset frowned deeply, probably not liking the mention of Freeport’s history of piracy. “I assure you, it is. I’ve fought pirates before, and I’m not going to stop now.”

“I don’t see the Archon supporting pirates like the previous rulers,” Kadri spoke up. “As she said, she has a history of fighting against such criminals, as well as monsters and warlocks.”

Baron Goldpeak cleared his throat. “Though this talk makes me wonder how things will change going into the future, especially regarding Freeport’s foreign relations with its neighbors.” His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes as he looked my and Sunset’s way. “I’m sure plenty will note that Archon Shimmer visited Equestria first among her neighbors.”

Ambassador Kadri momentarily stopped eating, his eyes narrowed. “I will also point out that she visited Zebrica right before her elevation to Archon.”

Sunset stiffened slightly. “Equestria is Freeport’s most profitable trading partner, and I want to eliminate the trade barriers between our nations in order to make that trade even more profitable. I haven’t made any secret about that.”

Goldpeak’s smirk widened as he took another sip of his wine. “Oh, no doubt that is one of your purposes for coming to Equestria. You probably wanted to see your old teacher as well, whom it’s said you are very close to. Though there have been a few rumors for there being a … let’s call it an ancillary reason for your visit.”

Sunset’s eyes narrowed. “And that would be?”

Goldpeak chuckled as though thinking of a private joke. “That you’re thinking about pursuing the most eligible bachelorette in Equestria, possibly in the entire world.”

It took me a second before I realized who he was referring to. “W-wait! You mean me?!”

“Who else?” The Baron smirked. “Though if you know of someone more eligible, I would be open to suggestions. My queen has two sons in need of a wife, after all.”

My cheeks flushed at the sudden turn in this conversation. I could only stare on as I considered how best to reply to that. Baron Goldpeak must have been teasing me, surely. Unless he was right, and Sunset had specifically wanted to visit me in Ponyville instead of in Canterlot for some reason.

Gerda raised an eyebrow as she looked between us. “That’s certainly a curious idea. Any truth to it?”

Sunset’s face became a mask of stone as she answered. “If I’m going to marry anyone then you’ll find out when I make a public announcement. Until then, anything you might hear is only a rumor.”

“Ah, I see.” Goldpeak nodded. “That clears things up nicely.”

Maybe Goldpeak had seen more in the statement than I had, but that had been a pretty vague non-answer to me. There were several possibilities as to what it could mean, but I decided not to feed the fire for this particular conversation. I was blushing badly enough as it was.

Sunset dabbed her mouth with her napkin. “In any event, I think I’m full. If no one minds, I’m going to retire for the evening.”

None of the ambassadors objected, and she departed the table. Though I couldn’t help but think that she was leaving because of the direction the conversation had gone. Had it been a mistake to invite the ambassadors for dinner? I had only wanted to be polite and get to know everyone, not get everyone’s hackles up.

Celestia made all of this look way too easy.

Once she was gone, Goldpeak grinned my way. “Though, while we’re on the topic, have you considered your own marriage prospects, Your Highness?”

I groaned and covered my face with a wing, eliciting a laugh from everyone at the table.

I made my own escape from dinner some time later. That had not been how I wanted things to go. I was going to need to be more careful how I arranged these types of official dinners in the future. In the end, it felt like I had been bum-rushed by the gathered ambassadors and embarrassed in front of the Archon. This is probably why Celestia had wanted me to meet with Sunset to start with, to give me actual experience at this type of thing. It was the best teacher, after all.

In any event, afterwards I headed up to the guest rooms assigned to Archon Sunset and her retinue. There were a few things I wanted to say to her after the events of the day, and some things I hoped to clear up.

I knocked on the door to Sunset’s room. She opened it and blinked at the sight of me. “Princess Sparkle, why’re you here?”

I smiled apologetically. “Hi. I wanted to talk about a couple of things. Now isn't a bad time, is it?”

“No, not really.” Sunset trotted to the center of her room and quickly scooped up a metal rune-covered tube before shoving it into her saddlebags. “I wasn't doing anything special.”

“Good then,” I said as I stepped into the guest quarters. There were a few suitcases piled to one side of the room, though what really took up space was the pair of golems standing against the wall. One of them turned its head in my direction as I entered, but the other seemed inert. Its chestplate had been opened to expose some of its internal workings. It seemed to me that a few parts had been removed.

I pushed aside the desire to further examine the golem and addressed Sunset. “I just wanted to apologize for how dinner went. I didn’t intend for the ambassadors to all jump on you like that.”

Sunset waved the issue off. “Don't worry about it, not the worst or most awkward dinner I've ever had.”

I suppose that was a relief. “That’s good to hear. Things got a bit ... aggressive back there.”

She grinned wryly. “Sometimes that happens when you’re the head of state. Everyone wants to know what you’re up to. They were probably just trying to needle me a bit to see how I’d respond, but that’s nothing I haven’t been through before. You were fine and the food was good, so there’s nothing to really apologize for.”

“Thanks.” My ears went flat as another worry came to the surface. “Though I've been a bit worried that you were … um, a bit bored with my tours today.”

Sunset frowned as she turned my way. “What gave you that idea?”

I grimaced. “You didn't seem very interested when I was showing you around the castle. Or Ponyville. And then there was my little math error in my formula.”

The Archon shrugged. “The town was interesting enough, and your palace is quite impressive.”

I was momentarily taken aback by that. “Oh! Sorry, I just didn't get that impression.”

“Huh.” Sunset scratched the side of her neck as she said, “Sorry, guess I wasn't showing it. Though really, your tour was fine. To be honest, this has been the closest thing I’ve had to a vacation since becoming archon. It’s been nice to just relax and walk around.”

Well this hadn’t been what I’d expected. “Um, that’s good news then. It seems I’d been worried for nothing.” I chuckled to myself. “Which is good, since I wanted to make a good first impression for you.”

Sunset shook her head. “You've done a fine job as a host so far, don’t worry about it.” She grinned at me. “Even if dinner was bit tense.”

“Err, right.” I rubbed the back of my mane, sheepishly remembering the dinner conversation. “I kinda got flat-hoofed by dinner. I probably should have expected politics to come up during a dinner with a bunch of ambassadors, and politics always make things awkward at the dinner table.”

She shrugged. “It probably was inevitable.”

“At least it's over.” I chuckled as the nervousness started flowing out of me. “It got pretty embarrassing when they brought up the idea of you proposing a marriage alliance with me.”

A couple seconds ticked by before Sunset replied. “Right, that was awkward. I guess speculation was inevitable, too.”

“Probably. Like they said, I'm a very eligible bachelorette.” I glanced at my wings as I extended them. “What with me being an unmarried alicorn princess and all.”

It was something that had come up now and again since I became a princess. Not that I’d really been able to act on any of that ... ever. There was always so much to do that the idea of trying to get married just kept being put on the back burner. I had my princess duties, hanging out with friends and family, helping ponies with their various problems, map missions, random monster attacks and other disasters... Yeah, I was busy.

“And just about everyone's curious to see who I marry,” Sunset added, “since it'll impact where Freeport goes.”

“That isn't a surprise,” I said. “That would determine whether the archonate is to be hereditary, or if you want the archon to be selected some other way. It’s gone both ways in the history of the archonate—when there’s even been one, anyways. Freeport’s been somewhat inconsistent in how its chosen its leaders, ranging from blood inheritance, adoption, being selected by the current leader, elections, and … um, more aggressive methods.”

“Right, and I want whoever comes after me to have become archon legally.” Sunset frowned. “There will be political implications for how the next archon is selected, and who that is. Not to mention all the things a political marriage would determine.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” I agreed. “There's a lot to be risked on a political marriage.” Probably why the ambassadors had brought it up during the dinner earlier. Freeport and Equestria entering into some sort of marriage alliance would significantly shift the political landscape, or it could go the other way if one of Freeport’s other neighbors made a similar arrangement with Sunset. That didn’t even get into how the kids would probably be inclined to favor the nation their other parent came from. History itself could be changed by that type of marriage.

“And it would help determine which direction I take Freeport in.” Sunset’s face took on a forced neutrality. “I really don't want anyone thinking I'm a puppet.”

I grimaced slightly at the hidden edge in Sunset’s tone. “I can respect that. Especially when that would make you look bad to your fellow Freeporters.” That was probably putting it lightly. It was probably already hard enough on her that she was from Equestria and Celestia’s former student. She probably had to work hard just to seem independent to her own people, much less to other nations. That was probably another reason why the ambassadors had needled us earlier, now that I thought about it, to figure out where Equestria and Freeport stood with one another now that Sunset was in charge of Freeport.

“Very bad,” she said, her frown grave. “It's one of my top concerns.”

“I'll try and not make you look bad then,” I jested, hoping to lighten the mood. “I think I can manage that much while you're here.”

Sunset’s lips spread in a dry grin. “Thanks.”

“And with that out of the way, there were a few things I wanted to ask about.” I walked to the Archon’s golems and looked them over. The active one’s head continued turning to look at me. “These are pretty interesting, and I couldn't help but notice some of their internal workings are different from other golems I’ve seen. And that's not even getting into their magical fields. They also seem more cognizant than normal golems, and more reactive to external environments. Are they an entirely new design?”

Sunset glowered and quickly snatched up a blanket from her bed, tossing it over the inert golem just as I was about to get a closer look at its inner workings. “I made a few changes.”

My nose wrinkled as my view of the golem was blocked. “Oh? Like what?”

“I'd rather not give away too many secrets,” she answered as she closed her saddlebags—the same ones she had put the rune-covered tube in earlier.

Had that been one of the parts to the golem? It seemed likely. Though why didn’t she want me examining her golems? They seemed pretty fascinating. “Um, okay then. I was just curious, was all.”

Sunset shook her head. “I understand, no offense taken.”

I frowned as I tried to figure out Sunset’s suddenly ... distant behavior. “Are these golems one of the secrets of your school, then? Or one of Freeports?”

“Yes.”

My frown deepened. “Going with a mathematical answer then?”

The Archon’s eyes narrowed. “The design is proprietary to Freeport and our magi. I'm sure you wouldn't hand state secrets over to me.”

I blinked. “Of course not! Sorry, it's just I get really curious about anything magical, and these golems aren’t like any previous versions I’ve seen before.”

The glare Sunset had been giving me softened and her shoulders lost some tension. “I understand.” She let out a soft sigh and briefly shook her head as though clearing it. “Honestly, I kind of wish we could just sit around swapping ideas and comparing notes on magic. But you're a princess of Equestria, and I'm the Archon of Freeport. Those roles come with responsibilities that make things a bit more complicated.”

My ears wilted as all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. “Right. That makes it difficult for two former students of Celestia to just talk and trade notes, because we’re not just former students. We’re representing our own respective nations and have to act like it, even if we’re not wild about it.”

Sunset nodded. “That’s why I have to step so carefully on this visit. I want closer relations with Equestria, but it’s worthless if it gives other nations the impression that I'm a puppet.”

“Understandable.” Despite the somewhat grim turn to the conversation, I smiled for Sunset. “Still, I hope we can still be friends, if we have be a bit careful how we go about that. Just because we have to keep things official in public doesn’t mean we can’t get along in private.”

“I'd like that.” A smirk appeared on Sunset’s features, and she nudged me in the ribs with an elbow. “Especially since your name is on the short list of marriage candidates...”

I blinked upon hearing that. “Err, um, ehehehe, um, i-is that right?!”

“It's one of the unofficial reasons behind all the state visits,” she informed me. “Having an heir would solve a lot of looming questions, and it’s a chance to shore up existing alliances or cement a new one. Not to mention there’s not exactly a huge list of appropriate matches out there for me.”

“Th-that so?” I felt my cheeks blush, and it took me a couple of seconds to start thinking straight. “That makes sense. Admittedly, I need to consider the whole heir issue as well.”

“Oh?”

“I do have a crown to pass on. Maybe, at least. I needed to sit down and hammer out how the whole Princess of Friendship thing is going to work out over the long term, but even discounting my title, there’s a bunch of other things to worry about.” I motioned at the room around us, with its fine furniture and crystalline architecture. “There’s still the castle and its map, along with all the responsibilities those entail. Then there's the whole Sparkle Duchy to consider on top of that. And if I hadn’t been thinking about it already, somepony or another ends up reminding me every month or so anyway.”

“At least Equestria's a lot more flexible. You can get away with marrying any old commoner if you really want to. That's not an option for a new office just getting started.”

“You can't just set your own precedent?” I asked. “You’re the first archon to rule in a really long time. You should have some flexibility in how you decide your succession.”

Sunset shook her head. “If I want to be taken seriously by Freeport and the rest of the world? No. Most of the world’s ruled by monarchies. You need some royal blood mixed into your family bloodline or other countries will just consider your dynasty to be some upstart. And at the end of the day, I want my work in Freeport to be continued after I’m gone. I don’t want the Council or someone picked after me to backslide and undo everything I accomplished.”

I rubbed my chin as I thought over her reasoning. “I think I can see your point. You have to show the archonate is on the same level as any other sovereign in the world while taking care of any governmental stability issues.”

Sunset nodded. “That’s why I need to marry royalty, or something similar.”

Not that I was sure about the idea of marrying Sunset myself. I’d just met her after all. There were a ton of things to consider for this before we tied the knot. Still, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to figure out what Sunset was thinking. “Who else are you looking at, if I can ask?”

Sunset’s shoulders shrugged. “The Sultan of Zebrica made an offer, the second son of the current High Queen of Gryphonia is open to the idea, plus my backup plan in case all else fails.”

“Not a bad list, dynastically speaking.” And either of the listed marriages would significantly change the balance of power in the world. That made the paranoid part of my brain worry about this whole meeting, and what I should do. Should I say I’d seriously consider the idea? Encourage her? I didn’t know. This was all so sudden and big I didn’t know how to respond.

“Any of them would work quite well,” Sunset’s eyes momentarily flicked over me. “For what it's worth, you've been doing a good job climbing up my list yourself.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle nervously. “I suppose I should say I’m flattered? Even if the organizer part of me wants to know where I'm ranking on that list.” That would certainly help me figure out how to respond to all of this.

“It's not exactly a strictly organized list so much as a metaphorical expression,” she explained with profound unhelpfulness.

I sighed. “Fair enough. Sometimes I forget that everypony else isn't quite as organized as myself.” Though I had a sneaking suspicion that Sunset was just keeping her cards close to her chest for the moment.

But instead of continuing the talk about proposed marriage, Sunset changed topics. “Considering you are so organized, what did you have planned for tomorrow?”

I rubbed my chin as I considered the question. “Actually I was thinking about changing things a bit, since you seem to like things a bit more ... engaging, we’ll say.”

A grin spread across Sunset’s lips. “Oh? What did you have in mind?”

“If you’re okay with the risk, we could go into the Everfree Forest and check out the Tree of Harmony and the Castle of the Two Sisters.”

“Sounds interesting. Would it be okay if—”

She was cut off by a sudden frantic knocking that caused both of us to look at the door. I opened it and was nearly bowled over when Kukri burst into the room, her eyes wide as she skidded to a stop in front of Sunset.

“Shimmer-mare!” the changeling cried out. “Someone cut this one off from its golems! This one can’t sense them anymore, and they’re both gone!”

Author's Note

Awkward Facts

We rushed to the room where Kukri had stored her golems. Along the way I triggered a spell to summon Storm, and I told her what little I knew by the time we arrived. Besides a few suitcases and other items from Archon Sunset’s procession, there were only the five golems in the room, and two more empty spots in their lineup.

I looked around to try and see what clues I could gather. The vaguely chicken-shaped golems were around the size of a pony, so there must have been some sort of explanation for what happened to them.

Kukri frantically paced about the room as her horn glowed green. “Torch and Lance were right here!” She pointed to an empty spot at the end of the golem lineup. “They were right here when this one left them, and it could still sense them. But now this one can’t tell where they are!”

Sunset frowned as her gaze swept the room. “So one second you can feel them, and the next they're cut off completely?”

Kukri nodded. “Exactly! That's when this one knew something was wrong. It was just like—“ She made a cutting motion. “Thooomp! Nothing.”

My mind whirled as I tried to figure out what happened. Golems normally have a bond with their creators as a means for control, which was pretty important when your average golem couldn't act on much beyond basic orders—though these golems seemed more advanced than any other I’d seen. Best to get my facts straight so I didn’t jump to the wrong conclusion. “Maybe the golems were damaged? If they suffered enough physical harm, especially in the right places, that would have broken your bond.”

Sunset shook her head. “I doubt it. Everything here looks undisturbed, and if someone came in here and tried to damage them they would have defended themselves. There’s also the fact that Kukri’s bond to her golems was immediately cut. It would have taken a heavy duty spell or one doozy of a physical blow to knock one of our golems out in one shot like that.”

“And like you said, there’s no sign of that here.” I scratched the side of my head. “So someone somehow managed to cut the bond pretty much instantly without any visible signs of a struggle? Archon Sunset, is it possible to break the bond or disable them without damaging them?”

Sunset’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not information I’m just going to give out.”

I grimaced. “Right, sorry.”

“In any event, it was a very neatly done theft.” Sunset’s gaze turned to the door and she started scanning with her horn. “Wasn't this door supposed to be locked and secured?”

Storm nodded. “Indeed. There were no signs of tampering on the lock.”

I reached out with my magic to the wards placed around the door. “The door’s wards seem fine. It’s just your basic alarm spell, but it still should have gone off if anyone tampered with the door or forced an entry.”

“And it was locked when this one got here, even though the golems were gone,” Kukri added. “This one checked before it came for all of you.”

Sunset let out an annoyed huff. “Great. Classic locked room mystery, just what I needed.”

“Shall I start interviewing staff and guests?” Storm asked.

I sighed and nodded. “You better go ahead and do that. In fact, it might be best if we go ahead and lock down the castle to keep anyone from coming in or leaving without express permission. We might even want to consider shutting down the train station and monitoring traffic out of Ponyville until we’ve figured this out.” My stomach started twisting into knots over the burgeoning diplomatic incident on my hooves.

“I will see to it, Highness.” Storm turned and started issuing orders to some guards just outside the room.

Kukri’s eyes narrowed as she studied the ground where some claw prints were barely visible on the floor. “Shimmer-mare, take a look at this. There aren't any scuff marks.”

Sunset followed her gaze. “That's unusual.”

“Why's that?” I asked as I joined them.

Kukri gestured at her remaining golems. “This one's golems aren't as big as the Shimmer-mare's, but they're still around a quarter-ton of solid metal. Anyone who tried to physically remove them would've left marks on the floor.”

“If they were dragging them, yeah,” I confirmed. “You could perhaps carry them, but that would take an exceptionally strong individual or a group to pull off.”

Sunset stroked her cheek. “And it’d be especially hard to do it quietly enough that nobody would notice, and they had to get out of here before Kukri showed up. The only way to make it happen would be...”

“Magic,” Kukri finished.

I crossed my arms over my chest as I consulted my considerable knowledge base of magic. “There are plenty of ways it could be done with the right forms of magic.”

Kukri turned to face me, her brow furrowed. “Like teleportation?”

I frowned as I thought the option over. “Right, with teleportation it might be possible. Though you can't teleport into or out of the castle—I've set up wards against that. Captain Storm insisted as a security measure. Besides, teleportation is a pretty rare spell for anyone to master.”

Storm nodded. “It seemed only pertinent for your safety, Highness.”

“Yeah, I noticed the dimensional anchors.” Sunset cast a quick cantrip to study them. “I was thinking about asking how to get past them.” A slightly teasing smirk slowly spread on her lips. “Or if I should just find a way to beat them. I haven't done it yet, so they're pretty good.”

Kukri’s eyes narrowed as she focused her gaze on me. “So you're the only one who can control teleportation magic in this castle then, Sparkle-mare?”

I nodded. “That’s right.”

She grunted. “So, can you account for where you were earlier, going back about three hours?”

I blinked in surprise at the sudden accusation. Did she really think that I stole her golems? I would never do something like that—but just because Iknew that didn’t mean everyone else did, and I had the opportunity to pull it off. And if I was going to be honest, I could have pulled off the theft if I’d really wanted to. I could think of several ways, in fact. Between teleportation, pocket planes, and dimensional shifts, there were plenty of ways to get into the room, and—while it would be extremely tricky—ways to disable the golems to make off with them. Those methods were something only a high-tier spellcaster could possibly pull off, and there weren’t many of those just lying around the castle. And now everyone was staring at me, especially Sunset, whose body tensed as she frowned deeply.

Storm’s wings flicked. “You are speaking to a princess.”

“She’s still a suspect,” Kukri said obstinately. “Can you account for where you were, Your Highness?”

My ear twitched, but I thought it best to cooperate. “I was with Sunset when you found us, and before that I was at dinner with the ambassadors. The only time I wasn't with anyone was in between those two things.”

“And how long was that, and what were you doing?” the changeling pressed.

“About an hour ago,” I told her. “Well before you came bursting into the Archon's room. There was only about fifteen minutes between me leaving the ambassadors and going to see Sunset.”

“That's quite a lot of time.” Kukri’s eyes settled on me in an almost predatory manner. “And you were very interested in our golems when we got here. This one saw how you kept looking at them.”

“She was asking a lot of questions about them just a little bit ago,” Sunset commented, her ears flicking.

Storm brought herself to her full height as she faced Kukri. “The princess would not steal from one of her guests. Why would she do something like that?”

Kukri shrugged. “The why doesn't really matter when the how cuts out a lot of other options. Torch and Lance weren't moved; fifteen minutes is more than enough time to set up a magical dead zone to contain them, especially if she did some prep work ahead of time; and there's only one pony who can teleport in this castle...”

“But I wouldn't do something like that!” I insisted. “That would cause a major diplomatic incident!”

Kukri snorted. “Like Equestria’s shy of them. It’s felt free to cause plenty of them whenever it suited itself before.”

Sunset placed a hoof on Kukri’s shoulder, though whether it was to comfort her or to hold her back I couldn’t tell. “I'm sure Princess Sparkle has a very good explanation for this.”

My teeth clenched. I didn’t like being accused of stealing, but I had to try and push those negative feelings down if I was going to think logically and get this investigation moving in a positive direction. “Don’t you think it would be extremely stupid of me to steal from someone under my own roof? Especially in a way that only implicates me?”

“Just because something is stupid doesn’t mean someone wouldn’t do it,” Kukri countered. “Plenty of thieves get caught in stupid ways, or because they overlooked something.”

“Besides, the timing for me stealing the golems is off,” I pointed out. “I was with the Archon when your bond with the golems was cut. If I had to guess how your golems work, they would have signaled to you if anything was going wrong here in this room.”

Sunset frowned thoughtfully, but Kukri wasn’t willing to give it up there. “You’re still an alicorn and student of the White Pony. You could have set up some sort of delayed magical spell or ritual. It could have been set on some sort of timer or been triggered from a distance. That would have been handy since that would have given you the Shimmer-mare as an alibi for where you were. Not to mention you’re not alone in this castle.” She glanced in Storm’s direction.

Sunset spoke up in a firm and decisive tone. “Considering the facts, I think we’ll be investigating on our own.”

I bit my lip. “It'd be best if we worked together on this.”

Kukri scoffed. “You're suggesting you help investigate a theft where you're the prime suspect?”

I took a moment to think the matter over carefully. Admittedly, things did look really bad for me. I had the motive, the means, and the opportunity to steal those golems. If I looked too desperate it would only make things look worse.

Not seeing an alternative, I sighed. “Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have two separate investigations.”

Sunset nodded. “Right. If nothing else, it'll be good to rule out any possibility you were involved.”

I took a deep breath. “Right, so let's get to work and see what we can find out.”

I wasn’t making any progress. After parting company with Sunset we’d gone over the entire room for additional evidence, but came across nothing that gave us a glimpse into who might have stolen the golems. No footprints, hairs, dropped items, or anything else that might be useful.

In the end I’d sent Storm off to start interviewing everyone, search the castle, and make arrangements to make sure no one was going to try and sneak off with a pair of pony-sized golems. I attempted to find a magical solution to the problem. But despite trying a range of clairvoyance and divination spells, I wasn’t any closer to finding the golems. I could only conclude that they were somehow being shielded from magical detection. That didn’t particularly surprise me, but I had to try anyways. It was either that or frantically worry about how I was going to be blamed for an international incident. Wars had been started for less than a princess stealing valuable wartech from another visiting head of state.

I was in the middle of getting nowhere with a long-ranged detection spell when someone knocked on the lab door. I canceled out the gathered magics and stepped out of the magic circle engraved into the floor. No sense risking getting distracted during a complicated spell and having its energies backfire on me. “Come in!”

Storm entered the lab and closed the door behind her. Given her stoic expression stern, it didn’t look like she had good news for me. “Highness. I hope you have had good fortune.”

I groaned and rubbed the sides of my head. “Afraid not. All I can tell you is a lot of what I don't know. Either the golems aren’t within a couple hundred miles of Ponyville, or they’re being hidden from detection somehow. And there’s all sorts of ways to block the type of spells I’m using, like a protective magic circle. The golem could be in the castle itself, but if the thief knows what they’re doing I wouldn’t be able to detect it. It wouldn’t necessarily be easy given all the magic I’m throwing around, especially when I can probably spot a powerful anti-detection spell, but it could be done.”

Storm sighed and her wings slumped just a bit. “That is similar to my own experience then. Nobody saw anything useful, either in or outside of the castle. We’ve searched the castle and the immediate premises, but we didn’t find anything that looked like a clue.”

I picked up my mug of coffee and found to my disappointment that it was cold. The night started to turn into morning, and I desperately needed some caffeine to keep my brain working. “I was hoping someone would have seen something.”

“Well, naturally the Gryphonian Ambassador saw nothing but suspects the Westmarch Ambassador, and vice-versa.”

I sighed and got to work making another pot of coffee. “So nothing helpful then.”

Storm grunted in confirmation. “I'm going to go over the interviews again to make sure we didn't miss anything, but...”

“Don't count on anything coming out of it, right.” I took a deep breath as I rubbed my face. “We’d better start thinking about what else we can do that might help us recover those golems, because if we don't...”

We didn’t know how the bond was broken, we didn’t know how the golems were stolen, and we didn’t know where they were. We didn’t even know for certain why the golems had been stolen. Not a great start to the investigation. The thief had done a very good job of covering their tracks, so either we were dealing with a professional or someone who had put a whole lot of thought into how to pull this off.

“Maybe we should look at this from another angle?” My ears twitched. “Like who else has a motive.”

Storm nodded. “That is one of the starting principles of investigation. So who would want to steal the Archon's golems?”

I finished prepping the coffee pot as I organized my thoughts. I decided to focus on who was under my roof at the time of the theft. There were wards over the castle to keep just anyone from entering the castle, so it was unlikely anyone managed to bypass them to commit the crime. “I can think of a few suspects: there are the ambassadors—Westmarch and Freeport haven't had the friendliest relations, seeing that they’re always having one trade dispute or another and they’re hoping that they can steal Freeport’s latest invention. Then there’s the fact that Westmarch has long enjoyed a special relationship with Equestria, and they don’t want to share that with Freeport. The lack of trade barriers between us and Westmarch is a big economic advantage for them.”

“Just so.”

“Then the Zebrican Empire and Freeport have gone to war multiple times throughout history,” I continued. “They have a few territorial disputes in addition to some bad blood over some things that happened in the past, like when Zebrica conquered Freeport way back when. Though I thought the Sultan and Sunset got along.”

Storm pulled out a couple of mugs. “True. But just because they get along doesn't mean their nations do. Besides, the Sultan did just recently finish a civil war.”

“And the Sultan might have his own objectives at the end of the day.” I scowled as I poured fresh coffee into the mugs. “Not to mention it would be very convenient for him if I got framed for the theft. That could push Freeport right to him.” And there was the fact that Sunset had mentioned the Sultan was one of the people she was considering marrying. That could be a big alliance for him to make, and much easier to make happen if he poisoned the well between me and the Archon.

“They are a possibility,” Storm agreed as she drank some coffee.

“And then there's Gryphonia’s ambassador.” I added some cream to my own coffee as I waited for it to cool. “Even if they don't have as big a beef with Freeport.”

“Indeed not, but they do not want to see Freeport and Equestria being friendly with one another,” Storm pointed out. “And they don't need a grudge to have an interest in acquiring a new piece of technology.”

I sighed. “That is true—for all of them, honestly. All of them would benefit from stealing the golems and worsening relations between us. And if the golems are advanced as I think they are...”

Storm frowned for a moment before she asked, “How much do you know about them, Highness?”

“Not as much as I'd like.” I swirled my mug. “I'm pretty sure they're more intelligent than normal golems, in addition to some other new abilities. But I can’t be sure without studying them properly.”

Storm voice showed reluctance as she spoke. “It might be wise to show less open interest.”

I grimaced as I realized how my words could sound to the wrong person. “I just want to know for academic reasons!”

Storm held up a hoof to forestall further protests. “I know, Highness. But clearly some have misinterpreted your interest.”

I groaned and rubbed my face. “I know, I know. And now someone's taking advantage of that.” Another unpleasant possibility sparked in the paranoid part of my brain. “You don't think they would fake their golems disappearing, do you? If they spun things right then they could get some significant concessions at the diplomacy table to sweep this under the rug.”

“I doubt it,” Storm said. “From what you've said, the Archon seems genuine in her wishes. And if she were caught it would badly damage her relationship with Princess Celestia.” She frowned. “Though perhaps her magus could have an agenda. She is from the Doo Clan, and they might not want friendly relations with Equestria.”

I ran a hoof through my mane as I felt my frustration grow. “I can't help but think we have a few too many suspects.”

Storm did her best to maintain a stoic demeanor, but I could still detect the depression in her tone. “Indeed so. Perhaps we should—“

A knock on the lab door interrupted her.

I let out a long sigh, and fervently hoped it wasn’t some fresh disaster. “Come in!”

To my mild surprise, Strumming Heartstrings stepped through the doorway with a casual “Yo.” It was always a bit weird to see Lyra’s cousin; the two looked so much alike except for the fact Strumming had wings instead of a horn. Lyra had told me a good bit about her spy cousin, but I wasn’t quite sure what to make of her.

“Hello. Did you need something?” I asked.

“Just here with some unofficial word from her High Archon-ness.” Stunning frowned as she scratched the corner of her mouth. “Really need to work on that nickname. ‘Archon-ness’ just doesn’t roll off the tongue right.”

“Uh-huh. What type of word did she want you to give us?” I asked to try and steer the conversation back on point. It was curious how this was apparently unofficial, which made me wonder all the more what she came here to say.

Strumming momentarily dropped the more flippant attitude she normally seemed to have to give me a serious stare. “Well, we don't think you did it, but it'd be great if you could prove that.”

“That's quite the vote of confidence right there,” I groused. “I was pretty sure those two things were true myself.”

Strumming shrugged. “It's the truth. Sunset thinks you're innocent, but you've been super-nosey about our tech, and then some of it turns up missing. It looks bad.”

Storm glowered at the spy. “Her Highness would never—“

Strumming cut her off. “I'm not the one you need to convince. And even if you don’t technically need to prove it to Sunset, some of the folks back home are going to be livid about the golems being stolen. Plenty will blame you based on coincidence, and plenty more will blame you for not figuring out who stole them in your own castle. Either way, relations are gonna sour between Equestria and Freeport, and her grand Archonyness doesn’t want that.”

I groaned as I rubbed my face. “The trick is figuring out who did it, and returning your golems. And thus far we haven’t found anything concrete to discover the culprit.”

The corner of Strumming’s mouth smirked. “Yup. We're poking around, and so're you. Now, obviously we have to do separate investigations since you're kinda a suspect, but if clumsy old me just so happened to accidentally lose some of the information we have and you just so happen to stumble across it, well that's just dandy.” She let out an exaggerated yawn and stretched out her wings. When she did so a folder fell onto the table next to the coffee pot. “Oops. Silly me. Where'd I leave that report? Eh, doesn't matter. I'm snacky, gonna go snag some crisps.”

At that she wandered out of the lab, leaving me just a bit confused. Still, it at least sounded like Sunset still wanted to work with me. “Well that was a bit weird,” I said as I picked up the folder and started looking through the papers inside.

“We might as well read what she’s given us,” Storm said as she looked over my shoulder.

After reading what the Freeporters had ‘accidentally’ given to us, I made my own report about what we had and arranged for it to find its way to Sunset. It wasn’t hard to justify Spike going to the Archon to deliver some food and use his magic to drop a scroll right in front of her for another incident of unofficial information sharing.

We continued to see if we could find out anything else useful, but it was a bust. An hour later I received a message from Archon Sunset that she wanted to see me in the library. With Storm at my side, I headed right there to see what she had for me. A small crowd had gathered in the library, including the foreign ambassadors. As soon as I entered the room, Sunset cast a glare in my direction. Kukri paced back and forth as though she was determined to create a furrow in the floor, while Strumming was sitting at a table with a bored expression as she casually worked her way through a bag of chips.

I frowned as I approached them. “Hey, I got your message. What’s this about?”

Sunset’s peeled back in a snarl as she snapped at me. “You know exactly why we’re here.”

I blinked. “Excuse me?” The ambassador’s attention was now firmly on us.

Sunset jabbed a hoof into my chest. “Don’t play stupid with me, Princess.” She nodded to Kukri. “Show her what we found during our investigation.”

Kukri’s mouth spread in a nasty smile. “Gladly.” She stepped over to the library’s supply closet and swung the door open with a dramatic flair. On the floor was one of Kukri’s golems. The construct lay inert, being partially disassembled with several tools lying on the ground—my tools, I noticed half a second later.

“Isn’t that one of the stolen golems?” ask Baron Goldpeak?

Gerda frowned. “It would seem so. I doubt Her Highness would just have a replica of one of Freeport’s golems lying around.”

Before I could react, Sunset shot me a scathing glare and gave me a violent push that sent me stumbling back a couple of steps. “You stole our golem! Did you think you could just get away with that?!”

Storm stepped forward to defend me. “Her Highness would never do such a thing.”

“I-I-I didn’t!” My gaze shifted back and forth between the golem and Sunset. “I have no idea how that got there!”

Kukri snorted. “Suuure you didn’t. Who else would keep my golem lying around like this, huh?”

“I don’t—”

Sunset cut me off before I could reply. “Enough! I’m done with you! You can bet I’m going to issue an official complaint about this theft. Now give me the other golem so we can pack up and return home.”

My ears wilted. “I don’t know where the other golem is! I didn’t steal it! I don’t even know how that golem got there! Listen to me!”

“This one’s not interested in your lies,” Kukri scoffed. “It knew we couldn’t trust the Equestrians.”

“I’ve heard all I need to hear.” Sunset stepped up so that we were nearly muzzle to muzzle as she stared right into my eyes. “Give me my golem, or I’m going to demand satisfaction.”

“But I don’t have it!” I tried to insist again. “However it got there, I wasn’t involved!”

Sunset’s nostrils flared and she turned her back to me. “Either I get my golem back, or I’m going to want a duel. Got it? This can be between you and me, or this can be an international incident. Your choice, Princess.”

Author's Note

Awkward Confrontation

A lead pit formed in my stomach and my limbs moved stiffly as I headed outside to duel Sunset. Never in all my planning for the Archon’s visit to Ponyville had I expected something like this.

Sunset seemed much more relaxed beside me, carrying herself with an imperious air and her head held high, exuding a cold detachment to everything around her. Storm walked near me, stoic even now as the princess she was sworn to protect got into a duel. Strumming and Kukri followed their leader, Kukri visibly fuming as she stomped behind her teacher while Strumming was as unreadable as ever. The ambassadors also followed us, whatever emotions they were feeling carefully hidden behind calm masks as they watched the proceedings.

Once we were a safe distance from the castle and nearby crowds, Sunset and I turned to face one another. I bit my lip as I tried pleading with her a final time. “We don't have to do this. Give me more time and we're bound to find out who really stole your golems.”

“Or you'll just cover up the evidence and hide the rest of what you stole.” Her legs widened in a defensive stance. “Last chance: give back the golem, or I'll make you.”

“I told you, I don't have it!” I groaned and ran my hoof down my face. “This duel isn't going to solve anything!”

“Maybe you'll change your story once I teach you a lesson.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why did you steal our golems?”

I stomped a hoof. “I told you, I didn't! I’ve been set up.”

Sunset snorted and shook her head. “Like I've never heard that before. Can you prove it?”

I gritted my teeth together. “That's kind of the problem at the moment, isn't it?”

“Then show me what you can do.”

I took a deep breath. “Fine, if you want a duel, then we're just going to have to fight.”

That was it then, the end of talking. Time to act.

I fired off a stun bolt to test Sunset’s defenses. Sunset contemptuously swatted it aside with her hoof and an effort of will. That caught me by surprise when she shouldn’t normally have been able to use her hoof to deflect that spell like that without some sort of protective magic. She snorted. “You're kidding, right? I thought you were supposed to be one of Celestia's students. Did you flunk combat magic or something?”

I glowered at the insult. “I’m just getting warmed up.” I fired off a thunderflash spell, and the ball of light streaked forward into Sunset’s shield. A painful explosion of light and sound burst from the impact, but when the effects of the spell dissipated Sunset was still standing with a bored expression.

She let out a resigned sigh. “Fine. Let me show you how a real unicorn fights.” Sunset’s horn flashed and a beach ball-sized fireball streaked towards me. I created a shield that blocked it, but I was forced to pour more magic into the shield than I expected when its ferocity caught me off guard. “Elementary.” She followed up by creating a chunk of ice larger than she was and launched it at me with blistering speed.

The combined mass and velocity shattered with my shield, sending me reeling as I was pelted by chunks of ice. Sensing I needed to make space for myself, I cast another stun bolt at Sunset, stronger than the last one.

Sunset teleported clear of the bolt and reappeared at my side. She turned a furious glare my way, and I nearly froze at the sheer intensity of it as another fireball formed from her horn. I worked quickly to cast a fire protection spell, and the fireball struck my chest barely a moment after I finished casting, singing my coat. Guessing she was going to follow up with more ice, I tore a slab of stone and earth up from the ground. Another large chunk of ice soared in and shattered against my earth-shield.

Right, I could beat her basic preferred attacks. It was simply a matter of countering the elements she favored with the right combos.

Though if Sunset was worried she didn’t show it. “Better, but you're not going to win anything by staying on defense.”

That much was true, so I took her advice. A dozen magic missiles shot from my horn and homed in on the Archon. But once again, Sunset put up a shield and the bolts of pure magic pinged futilely against the barrier.

“Don't tell me that's the best you've got.” Sunset tossed her mane. “At this rate, I should take those wings off you and use them myself.”

“Do you always trash talk so much during a fight?” I asked as I prepared my next spell. I created a web of light and tried to drop it down on Sunset, but she teleported before it could land on her. I turned my head to look for her, but perfect darkness enveloped me before I could do anything.

“Slow,” Sunset declared from directly behind me, and a pinprick of stark white light appeared.

I tried to cast a defensive spell and spin to face her, but I was too late in either attempt. A beam of pure light hit my side and sent me flying. Piercing pain flooded through my body and I tumbled along the ground before coming to a halt.

I groaned, trying to pull myself back together and get back into it, slowly getting my legs under me again. So that last attack had hurt. A lot. Despite us being in a duel I really hadn’t expected Sunset to come on that strong. Was she trying to kill me? She was certainly throwing around a lot of magic. Little surprise when she was a former student of Princess Celestia with a decade of experience over me. I definitely needed to pick things up if I wasn’t going to get trounced, as much as I didn’t like the idea of potentially hurting anypony.

Thankfully, Sunset seemed content to stand back and let me get to my hooves. I stumbled the first couple of steps, but I stabilized myself after a second. So, she clearly knew what she was doing; she had mastered teleportation and was very good at evocations, especially ice and fire. So considering she had the abilities of an experienced magus, I was going to have to treat her like one if I was going to hold my own. “Ow. Okay, if that's how you really want to do this. Playtime’s over.”

I stopped holding back and drew deeply on my magic. Once I had gathered it up, I fired an ice beam right at Sunset. The ground iced up as the beam flew over it, and Sunset cast a shield to intercept the attack. The front half of her shield iced over completely, the impact causing her hooves to leave divots in the earth as she was pushed back. The magic of the ice beam poured around her shield, icing over the area around the Archon.

When my attack ended, Sunset grinned fiercely. “That's more like it.”

“Yeah?! Then here’s some more!” I sent a torrent of fire down at Sunset.

Sunset matched the fire with ice, creating an explosion of steam as the two forces collided with one another. But then a column of fire shot through the steam towards me, faster than I could properly counter. I let my fire protection spell take the brunt of that attack, and for a moment it felt like I was trapped in an oven. Once the fire passed, I used my magic to take advantage of all the disruptions in the air caused by the collisions of heat and cold. I took to the air, and using a mix of unicorn and pegasus magic, created a cyclone that I launched at Sunset.

Sunset teleported out of the way of the tornado, and it tore up the ground she’d just vacated. She also took advantage of all the energy that had been created in the air and fired off a lightning bolt at my flank. I quickly brought up a mound of earth to take the attack and ground out the electricity. A score of fully charged magenta stun bolts flew from my horn, streaming towards Sunset from multiple angles.

The Archon ran to avoid some of the bolts and brought up a shield to block the others before swatting the last aside with her hoof. “You're not going to beat me with evocation.”

“Fine, then I'll switch up tactics.” Quickly thinking through my repertoire, I found the spell that would do the job. I filled the air with a soft, melodious tune, like a mother’s lullaby to make her fall asleep.

Sunset’s eyelids dropped as the sleep spell went to work. She stumbled as she started nodding off, but as she went to one knee she growled and her horn lit up. A sword appeared from thin air next to her and with a sweep of the blade, my spell was broken.

Taking a guess at what seemed to be happening, I tossed out another spell intended to cause Sunset’s mind to freeze up with paralysis, but the spell bounced right off of her as the sword pulsed with magical energy. The sword must be blocking mental intrusions, or at least the type of spells I just used. Though I would need to study the sword more closely to know exactly what it could do. Pity Sunset wasn’t likely to let me do that in the middle of a duel.

“Bad move,” Sunset declared through gritted teeth. She teleported behind me and swung her weapon at me.

I eeped and teleported away into the air. I fired off an energy blast, wanting to keep her pinned down and not using that sword on me. But she caught the blast with her sword and deflected the bolt away.

Sunset casually swept her sword. “I've learned a couple new things this sword can do after seeing its twin in action.”

Okay, now this was even more serious than it had been now that she was swinging an actual weapon at me. Best to deal with that sword before she got a chance to hack at me, in any event.

Thus I concentrated and cast a magnetism spell on the sword to tear it from Sunset’s grip. It fell and clattered to the ground.

Sunset scoffed. “That's not going to work.”

“Then how about this?” Before she could scoop it back up again, I grabbed a boulder and tossed it onto the sword to pin it in place.

Sunset’s eyes narrowed in her most furious glare yet, and to my surprise, the sword slipped right out from under the boulder back into her telekinetic grip. “Did you just try to smash Chainbreaker?! It's on now!”

Chainbreaker? That was one of Freeport’s most treasured national artifacts, having belonged to the pony that had freed Freeport from the seriously bad Necrocrats that had once ruled there. And she was using it here in this duel?! “You attacked me with it! Do you thinkI want to do that to a priceless historical artifact?! I didn’t even know what it was until you told me!”

Sunset roared as a pair of flaming wings erupted from her back and she use them to fly right at me. She bore her sword, ready to swing as she shot rapid-fire ice and fire spells. I teleported behind her and fired off a continuous beam of pure magical energy at her back. She snarled as she put up a shield to block my attack. I continued pouring on my attack, and the shield cracked and then broke. Sunset only barely dodged to the side of the beam, and it skimmed her side and shredded part of her cloak. She ignored whatever injuries she might have sustained to charge at me, firing off more spells as she closed the distance.

I cast the strongest shield spell I could to block those attacks as I flew back to avoid her.

“What's wrong? Is that it?!” Then she did something that caught me completely flat-hoofed. Sunset started channeling anima and anti-anima into her horn in preparation for a new spell. That was an immensely complicated and powerful spell. Those two forces were never intended to be used together. The explosive potential if those two elements merged was ... catastrophic.

I didn’t have any choice but bring out everything I had to counter her. I drew upon the Magic of Friendship, pulling in deep from the well of feelings I had for my friends, and harnessed the power of the Elements to create a shield as strong as any as I had ever created. A prismatic sphere formed around me while a pure white light and a darkness so dark it absorbed the light around it merged around Sunset’s horn.

The two of us closed midair, and power of our two spells collided. The resulting light burned my eyes through my eyelids, and the roar of the explosion was deafening. A flash of pain shot through my skull as aftershocks of magic slammed into it. Still, I kept up my concentration and poured yet more magic into my shield even as more waves of destructive energy washed over it like a stone holding in place against the blast from a firehose. I slowly peeled my eyes open to see that Sunset still held her ground. Her teeth were gritted together as she glared intensely at me. All her magic was going into pouring out more anima and anti-anima at me, and I was doing exactly the same for my prismatic shield, the two of us locked in a struggle we couldn’t disengage from.

It was a contest of endurance, and I kept expending more and more magic. Despite my own considerable reserves, my shield was quickly draining me. My horn ached from so much continuous magic being cast through it, and my vision blurred as everything I had went into my defense. For a long moment I wondered if it would ever end, but then Sunset grunted and the balance of her spell started buckling, the two diametrically opposed elements starting to swirl erratically. She closed her eyes, and the swirl straightened—mostly, but her hold was slipping. If she lost control of such a violent spell in a situation like this...

The horror of what was about to happen caused my control to slip, only slightly, but still enough for my shield to crack and break under the immense destructive magics slamming into it. The anima and anti-anima swept over me and I lost all connection to the world.

Next thing I knew I hit the ground. The jarring impact blasted the wind out of me, leaving me gasping for breath. All I could do was lie there and barely muster a groan as everything hurt from horn to tail. Trails of grey smoke floated from my body and my ears rang painfully. Everything felt unreal as I tried to remember how I had gotten there.

“Highness, are you alright?!” Somepony came to a running halt next to me and started looking me over. Right, that was Storm, my bodyguard.

More details started leaking back in. My ears flattened as I realized what must have happened. I’d lost.

“That ... did not go well.” I grunted as I stretched my limbs, expecting something to be broken or in serious pain, but everything merely ached. Nothing felt injured, at least.

“Are you well enough to stand, Highness?”

“I think so.” Against protesting aches, I slowly stood. I nearly toppled over when the world started spinning on me, and I leaned against Storm to remain upright. My head felt light and sluggish, it felt like there was something I should have been doing right then, but I couldn't think what. The ambassadors and others were watching on, with Strumming and Kukri moving just past them as they whispered to one another.

“Nothing too serious, but we should have a medic check you regardless,” Storm said as she slowly walked me towards the castle. “We don't want to risk there being something serious.”

“Storm, did you just use a contraction?” A snicker bubbled up and I giggled as I leaned up against Storm. “Aaaw, you do care.”

Storm bristled and didn’t look at me directly, though she still kept a hold of me with her wing as she sat me down to recover. “You should try and concentrate on getting better, Highness. You took a bad fall.”

Another giggle bubbled up from within me. “Careful, or I might fall for you.”

Storm stiffened, and for a moment I could swear I almost saw a blush on her cheeks, though the dark coat made it hard to tell. Not to mention I was still a little woozy. "Highness, you're not yourself. Please rest and recover."

Before I could think of a reply through all the fuzz in my brain, I noticed Sunset land nearby, breathing heavily. Her coat was matted with sweat, the locks of her mane a tangle from the duel, and her cloak was in tatters.

“Shimmer-mare!” Kukri ran over to her teacher with a wide grin. “You’re okay, right?”

Sunset waved her worries off. “Been better. Been worse too. At least all my bones are still in one piece.”

“At least that.” Kukri looked her over to make sure she was alright. “You were amazing. Shame this one and the Heartstrings-mare were a bit busy during the duel, but what we found should help, at least.”

Strumming grinned widely from beside the ambassadors. “Speaking of which...” Her hoof snapped out to grab Baron Goldpeak’s bag. “Yoink!”

“Hey!” The Gryphonian ambassador’s claw instinctively snapped to where his bag had just been, his eyes wide. “What are you doing?! Give that back!” He snatched at his bag, but Strumming yanked it back and deftly stepped outside of his reach. She grinned mischievously and upended the bag while smacking its bottom. A great variety of items fell out, more than any non-magical bag could ever hold. Most of them were mundane like a coin purse and identification papers, but then far more curious things appeared. Several potion vials, a couple magical instruments, and finally Kukri’s missing golem.

“Torch!” Kukri nearly tackled her golem as she wrapped it in a hug. “This one was so scared it’d lost you!”

Strumming tsked and shook her head. “Now how did all of that get in there?” She picked up one of the potions and tossed it Sunset’s way. “Mind checking out what that is, your Archon-y Baconness?”

Sunset scanned the vial before stating, “An invisibility potion. That must be how he got around without anyone seeing him.”

“Oooh! And what is this?” Strumming picked up one of the items on the ground. It was a perfect circle of some odd black material, as long as a pony if it was laid flat and floppy in the spy’s grasp. “Nice, a portable hole. Been a while since I’ve seen one of these.”

She walked up to a nearby home and tossed the magical item against its wall. Where the portable hole landed a perfectly shaped hole appeared in the side of the house. The pony inside yelped in surprise at the sudden intrusion into her daily life.

“Sorry, just solving a mystery and preventing an international incident.” Strumming pulled at the edge and removed the portable hole from the wall. “This explains how he got inside a locked room without anyone seeing.”

I bolted to my hooves and then promptly toppled back to land on my rear. “I knew there wasn’t a way to get into that room without magic!”

“That’s what we figured too,” Sunset agreed. “Your wards on the door were too good to get in without tripping or disabling them.”

Strumming nodded. “Yep. So the ambassador snuck around invisibly and once he was inside the room...”

She approached the golem with the bag, but Kukri interposed herself with a glower. “You’re not putting Torch back in the bag.”

Strumming let out an exaggerated sigh as she rolled her eyes. “You’re taking all the fun out of solving the mystery, Facon.”

“It’s not supposed to be fun,” Kukri groused. “We’re getting this one’s golems back and dealing with this flying turkey.”

I spoke up before the conversation got too off the rails. “That bag would explain why Kukri lost contact with her golems. It must have its own interdimensional pocket plane. The two of them effectively being on two different planes of existence would be more than enough to cut the bond between them.”

Gerda looked between us with a puzzled frown. “Wait one moment, how did you figure out it was that bag that held the golem? Did you detect its magic?”

Sunset took the bag to show off to the other two ambassadors. “Actually, that was what was tripping us up. We scanned for any type of magic that might have been responsible for the golem disappearing, but nothing was showing up. It couldn’t be something blocking our spells, since we would have detected that. So we figured we were dealing with some sort of antimagic field considering nothing was turning up.”

I nodded. “Though the problem with trying to detect anything with an antimagic field is that it’s not going to show up with any kind of traditional magic detection. The only way to find an antimagic field is to spot the complete absence of magic.”

General Kadri’s eyes narrowed. “So I take it this is the part where you tell us that this whole duel was a sham? You all seem to be getting along far too well for having just completed such a spectacular fight.”

“Sorry for tricking all of you, but we needed a way to start looking for the antimagic field without drawing too much suspicion from the thief,” I explained. “We probably could have upturned the entire castle and inspected every object within, but that would have caused issues once we got to the ambassador’s personal objects. There just wasn’t a way to inspect your possessions without it making it look like we suspected one of you of being the thief. Even if we had caught the culprit, we would have had at least two offended ambassadors, which could have had significant diplomatic repercussions.”

“The duel had another purpose,” Sunset said to expand on my point. “The both of us fighting was causing this whole area to get irradiated with excess magic. With that much magic getting thrown around the only thing that wouldn’t show up as having some magic was something with an antimagic field. In other words, this bag.”

Strumming grinned. “Which was what Facon and Captain Rigid over there were looking for the whole fight. And lo and behold, we found what we were looking for.”

It was probably best not to mention that some of my staff were also searching the ambassador’s things back in the castle while they were suitably distracted. We figured there was a good chance the culprit was carrying something so valuable on their person, but that was far from a guarantee. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them in this minor case of duplicity.

Sunset shot the Gryphonian ambassador a scouring glare. “Mind explaining all of this, Baron?”

Baron Goldpeak fumbled over his words as the other ambassadors discreetly distanced themselves from him. “I-I-I have no idea how those got there! Someone must have been planted that on me! I was framed! And what about the golem found in the castle? How do you explain that?”

Sunset snorted derisively. “Come on, that was such an obvious plant. You’re telling me Her Highness went through so much trouble to steal our golems without leaving any clues only to leave one of them where anyone could easily have found it? Sorry, not buying it. In fact, I suspected something was up from the start. Everything was way too conveniently pointing in Princess Sparkle’s direction. I’ve done some investigations in the past, and this was much too easy on a surface level.”

I glowered at the Gryphonian ambassador as my ire rose. “Give me some credit here.” I almost started spouting how I would actually steal the golems if I really wanted to, but I quickly bit down on that idea before it could get out. Talking like that was just asking for trouble.

Strumming shot him a wry grin. “Come on, we both know you’re busted. Caught red-hoofed—or is it red-clawed? Red-pawed? Is that idiom a bit racist? Anyways, your dastardly deed’s been uncovered. Best to fess up now before Facon gets it into her head to make you talk.”

Kukri bared her fangs as she hissed, “This one should have Torch break your wing for stealing him and dismantling Lance.”

The golem growled menacingly at the Baron and snapped its metallic teeth. The Gryphonian ambassador took a step back from the golem as it turned to face him. “Y-you will do no such thing! I have diplomatic immunity, you can’t touch me.”

Storm stood, giving me one more reassuring pat on the back before approaching the Baron. “Not true, ambassador, we'll be temporarily taking you into custody until there's a formal response from the Gryphonian embassy. I expect they will want to waive your diplomatic immunity, given the circumstances.”

The fear in Goldpeak’s features disappeared as he bristled at the sight of the manacles Storm presented. “I think not. My cousin is the foreign minister. He has the ear of the High Queen. She’ll hear about this-this skullduggery! I’ll be issuing an official complaint over this. You can bet on that. You won’t get away with this!”

“Feel free,” Strumming said flatly. “Considering how much evidence we just turned up, I doubt it'll work. But at least I can laugh at how poorly written your defense will be.”

Storm put the manacles on Baron Goldpeak. “Ambassador, you have the right to remain silent.”

“So here it is: The Tree of Harmony.” I motioned to the crystalline structure that held the Elements of Harmony. The day after the golems’ theft, we decided to visit the Tree and the Castle of the Two Sisters. It was a bit risky with the odd monster in the forest, but that only made Sunset more eager to go. Thankfully the trip had been uneventful. It probably helped that we had a significant retinue following us, though they were giving me and Sunset plenty of room to talk privately. But they didn’t seem to mind, since I could hear Spike telling Strumming and Kukri how he helped to save the Crystal Empire, to the amused grins of each.

Sunset looked up at the tree, studying it in all its majesty. “Wow. That's impressive.”

“I'd say so, given that it’s the source of the most powerful magic in Equestria.”

Sunset gave me a smile. “The ‘Magic of Friendship’, right?”

I nodded. “It’s what helped us defeat Nightmare Moon and Discord, and are at least partially responsible for these.” I stretched out my wings in emphasis. “As well as a few other things.”

“Very impressive.” Sunset grinned as she glanced over my feathers. “I got a copy of the lecture you gave at the School for Gifted Unicorns. The possible applications of friendship magic were very interesting. Sort of like that shield spell you used.”

“Friendship magic does have a lot of implications for the defense and augmentation fields of magics,” I agreed as I showed her around the tree. “Especially when applied to those an individual has a positive emotional connection to—you know, friends.”

“That makes sense.” Sunset placed a hoof on the tree. “It’s pretty amazing that it nearly blocked an anima/anti-anima blast.”

“Right, that was a pretty powerful spell you used. That has to take a lot of control to keep from exploding on you. In fact...” I grimaced and rubbed the back of my neck. “I was worried I was going to hurt you there.”

“You were?”

The smile I gave her was strained at the edges. “It looked like you were having trouble keeping control of your spell right there at the end. The idea of what would have happened if the spell collapsed on you ... I kinda flinched and my own spell failed as a result.”

“Oh.” A ghost of a grin showed itself on Sunset’s face. “Well, um, I certainly didn't want to hurt you either. Though based on what I saw of Cadance and Luna, alicorns are pretty tough. I figured you’d be able to take anything I threw at you as long as I held back. I know things got a bit intense, but the plan was to put on such a big show it would distract everyone.”

My impressions of the fight flooded back to me. The anxiety, fear, exhilaration, and dozen other feelings that had washed over me. “I think it succeeded, considering for a moment there I wasn't entirely sure it was a show.”

Sunset blinked in consternation. “Really?”

“You threw around a lot of hard-hitting spells,” I said.

“Ah.” Sunset pressed her lips together before replying. “I kinda had to. You weren’t really putting your all into the duel at the start, and I had to push you to really get into it. It's ... when I look into your eyes, I don't get the feeling you're capable of really wanting to hurt me.”

For a moment I wasn’t really sure how to reply to that. “That’s pretty obvious, isn't it?”

“It's not a bad thing.” She smiled and placed a hoof on my shoulder. “I mean, it's nice to know you're kind of innocent that way.”

That made a slight smile crease my lips. “Then hopefully I didn't make too bad of an impression for our fake duel.”

“I'd say you did just fine.” Sunset patted my shoulder. “And if you're ever worried about seeming sweet and innocent, you can teach your eyes to lie. It's what I do.”

“Huh, you can do that?”

“It's a skill.” Sunset gave me a wry grin. “I fooled you, didn't I?”

I chuckled and nodded. “Yes, you were an extremely intimidating and terrifying mare on the battlefield.”

“Thank you. I do try,” she said. “Still, I’m sorry if I took it a bit far, like with the trash talking. It was all just part of the show, promise.”

I saw no reason to hold that against her, especially when the plan had worked in the end. “Apology accepted. I just happy that whole mess is in the past now.” I looked up at the tree as I thought back to the duel and how it went. “Still, part of me liked being able to stretch myself and push my magic so far. Even if I'd have preferred it to have been on more friendly terms.”

“I wouldn't say no to a friendly rematch sometime.”

“Neither would I.” I nudged her side with a wing. “At least as long as things don't become quite as intense as this time.”

“I’m sure that could be arranged.” Sunset leaned against the tree and flashed a grin. “So ... about that offer I made.”

My heart started beating harder for some reason. “W-which one was that, again?”

“This has been an interesting little visit,” she said while glancing up at the Element of Friendship embedded within the tree. “I'd like to extend an invitation for you to come see Freeport sometime. I’d like to show you around, and we could get to know one another better. It’ll be fun.”

I couldn’t help but smile widely. “That does sound like it would be a lot of fun. There are a lot of historical landmarks I’d like to visit. I'll have to look at my schedule, but I'm sure I can make it work.”

Sunset leaned closer to me with a mischievous smirk. “It's a date, then.”

Wait.

Wait, what?!

A date?!