Canterlot Castle, Hallway 7C,

Monday, January 4th,

5:56 AM

“Your Majesty, your appointment with the reporters is in three minutes and forty two seconds.” Secretary Raven Quill said as she lightly jogged, doing her best to match her ruler’s significantly longer stride.

“We’re well within time, Raven.” Celestia said calmly, every so often glancing out of the massive, ornate windows that separated the marble castle interior from the white expanse of Canterlot and the green expanse of Equestria beyond that.

“Princess, had I not found you, I doubt you would have been able to make it in time!” Raven protested vehemently.

“I was preparing for the press.” The Alicorn replied smoothly.

“You were eating cake!”

“And slipping on my regalia. In fact, had you not arrived, I would have teleported to the Throne Room with ten minutes to spare. Instead, I’m not forced to walk quickly to the Throne Room and possibly arrive with only seconds to spare.” Celestia explained smoothly, making Raven glance away, slightly ashamed at ruining the Princess’ schedule. When her pace slowed fractionally, Celestia instantly spoke, softly saying, “Do keep pace, Ms. Quill. We don’t have much time left.”

“One minute, seventeen seconds.” Raven said softly just as Celestia levitated open the side doors to the Throne Room. Moving with a fluid speed and grace she had long since mastered, the Alicorn climbed the steps to her throne and sat down on it. As she seated herself, her horn lit up as she smoothed out her coat, polished the gold she wore, altered her mane so that it would billow out to her left instead of into the back of the throne, and cleaned off the slight smear of frosting leftover on her muzzle.

“Four seconds.” Raven commented from the right side of the throne room, near the base of the stairs leading to the throne.

3...2... “Open the doors.” Celestia commanded of the two Royal Guards posted on either side of the doorway just as she finished fixing her appearance. They complied instantly, swinging the two doors outward, allowing the press outside access to the Throne Room on the one day a year they were able to interview the Princess, even if it was as a group.

The pack, not a group or gathering, but a pack, of reporters rushed into the massive room, jostling for the best positions, those being nearest to their ruler’s throne. They fought amongst themselves like the wolves they were, vying for the position at the head of the pack. Right as they managed to reach the base of her throne, one reporter, a Unicorn, claimed the position of Alpha in time to look up at his Princess and smile winningly, eager to ask the first question of the day, his mouth already opening and a question on his lips.

“The maroon Earth pony.” Celestia said simply, nodding at the Earth pony just behind the Unicorn. The Unicorn had a look of slight sadness on his face, which cleared as the maroon Earth Pony prepared to ask her question. The mare beamed as the crowd slowly fell silent, then when all was quiet, she lifted one of her legs with a specialized clipboard attached to it. Before she pulled the pencil out of the strap on the board with her mouth, she stated her question.

“What’s your opinion on the increased tax on members of the nobility that your sister enacted last week?” Before Celestia had time to even fully comprehend the question, and the connotations it carried, all of the reporters were staring at her as the maroon mare held the pencil to paper, ready to transcribe her answer.

The Princess took a moment to respond, in order to appear to be mulling the question over as if she was considering the question, but it was a ploy. It was Celestia who had suggested to Luna that the tax revision be one of her first acts as a returned Princess. The younger sister had latched onto the idea and enacted it nigh immediately, simultaneously giving her the appreciation of the majority while making her the new noble target, just as Celestia had wanted. “I believe that Princess Luna was looking out for our little ponies. The smaller noble portion of the country has nearly half the total wealth of the country, but now, that wealth will help the entire country.”

This was a game she was very familiar with. Every reporter who came here asked a question, expecting a complete, honest answer. And in their minds, that’s what she gave them. In reality, she never really answered their question. Celestia didn’t tell that maroon mare her opinion, she just rephrased what was happening. Seeing the mare happily write down the answer, she then nodded to the Alpha in the front of the group. “The teal Unicorn.”

“What’s your take on the amount of inner city crime?” He asked, happy to be picked.

“The crime rate in cities like Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and Baltimore is at an all-time low. In other parts of the country, crime is already nonexistent.” Celestia explained, giving him no real answer. Not that he noticed. He quickly wrote down he words with nary a thought.

“The cerulean pegasus.”

“Your Majesty,” He started, being the first to greet her formally. “How do you feel about Equestria’s growing wealth, and the influx of capital in our economy?”

“I believe our wealth is growing due only to our partnerships with other countries. Without them and the trade they offer, we wouldn’t be as well off as we are now.” Celestia allowed herself to fake a wry smile, and a small chuckle for effect. “Of course, neither would they, either.”

The press chuckled along with her, not catching Celestia’s hidden meaning whatsoever. It seemed that was a question most of them wanted because the next few seconds were filled with intense scribbling before hooves raised again. “The grey Earth pony.”

“Equestria’s wealth has been growing exponentially recently. Trade goods are coming in and being used to make products, which are then being sold domestically or overseas. However, taxes have shown that net wealth of the Crown and large businesses is still growing in leaps and spades. In short, how is Equestria’s expansive wealth being used to help the other countries of the world?” She asked, giving the most detailed question as of yet, even going so far as to provide some background.

“Not only is Equestria helping by shipping back finished products in addition to raw materials, but our trade agreements provide other countries such as Gryphonia with materials and equipment they just don’t have normal access to. Everything from simple Flame-Spark firestarters to Magically Modified Organics is being sold at reduced prices.” Celestia explained with a smile.

“What of the threat of piracy?” The same reporter asked. The Guards immediately moved to throw her out only to stop when Celestia waved her hoof.

“Piracy is dead.” Celestia stated firmly, with finality. “Our Navy has hunted down each and every pirate, tracked down their leaders, found their strongholds, and dealt with them. We have nothing to worry about.”

The grey mare wrote down the answer and before she could ask another question, Celestia spoke. “The yellow Unicorn.”

“So you would say that the world is experiencing an era of peace and prosperity?” He asked curiously.

Celestia smiled lightly, her eyes lighting up with a practiced joy, calculated to get the best results. It had taken her years to get it down perfectly, but it had more than made up for it in recent years. “Yes, yes I would.”

Gryphonia, Port Naru,

Thursday, January 7th,

11:42 AM

The vulpine biped looked up in confusion and concern, his right paw dropping to the saber resting beneath his desk when the door to his office was shouldered open. He relaxed when a Gryphon chick walked in. Her head and chest feathers were stained a permanent red and two flintlocks hung at her side, the trigger mechanisms modified to work with her claws. Her beak was twisted into an angry snarl, and an audible snarl sounded out as she tossed a newspaper onto his desk.

Looking down, he saw it was already open, specifically to an interview. An interview with Celestia herself? Aye, that’s interesting.

Quickly reading it over, his keen ears picked up the Gryphoness mumbling under her breath. “‘Only wealthy because of other countries,’ ‘sharing our wealth,’ ‘era of prosperity,’ ‘piracy is dead.’ Ha! We’ll show ‘er piracy. What does she know a’ the world outside Equestr’an shores?”

“Blatant propaganda is all this is.” The biped replied, tossing the newspaper into the lit fireplace behind him. “Celestia knows damn well that piracy ain’t dead. We’re livin’ proof a’ it.”

“What are we goin’ ta do, Cap’n?”

“We’re goin’ ta meet our informant.” The bipedal vulpine said as he stood up. “Come along, Stain. Bring yer cloak.”

“What about ya?” Stain asked as they left the office, as she began heading toward her own room.

“I’m the last of me kind. Anyone who knows anythin’ would recognize me on sight, even with a cloak.” the Cap’n said over his shoulder.

“Right, Cap’n. Gimme a moment to throw tha cloak on.” She said, right before entering her room. The vulpine waited patiently at the end of the hall for her to return, which she did just a few moments later. “Ready.”

“Let’s go. He ain’t gonna wait fer us all night.” The captain said as he turned around and the two continued down the hall.

“No, but ‘e would for ‘is payment!” The Gryphoness retorted with a small laugh.

“Any o’ us would.” the Cap’n said with a grin, standing in a doorway that opened to a starry sky.

“True ‘nough, Cap’n.” They stepped out of the doorway into the cold, dark night, together.

Author's Note

Well, this is the prologue to my third story. Truthfully, I didn't expect to start another one so soon after starting Imperial Hunter. I planned to finish Daedalus' New World before starting a third, but, well, inspiration struck. I've actually had to do a lot of research for this story, but research isn't as good as firsthand experience, so if I get anything wrong, tell me.

As always, don't hesitate to tell me what you think about this chapter. Not much has been revealed about much of anything, but you might have a thought anyway. Special thanks to my editor who looked over this chapter!

Last but not least, I'm only posting the Prologue for a few days, maybe a week or two, for me to write out the next few chapters so I have a bit of a backlog. I wanted to go ahead and post the Prologue to get an idea of the reception this story might make. The Prologue is short compared to the real chapters, which average out around 6k rather than 1.6k, but it provides some basic setup for the story.