Chapters The Equestrian Imperial Harem
It was quite an average day, not too sunny but not too dull, the sky was a soft azure and gentle clouds flittered around the near empty sky. On this day, Rainbow Dash found herself trotting along an open yet dirty path in the Everfree forest, working under her father as a junior apothecary, there would often be days where the spectrum haired girl would have to go out and get medicinal herbs, she didn't mind though, for she believed she was too plain to be harmed by anybody. She didn't have a voluptious figure, nor did she have the most elegant face, so she fully believed that she was safe from all the creeps of the local district.
As she walked, she scoped out all of the different plants and herbs, usually she'd be excitedly picking them up in haste but she already had multiple stocks of them back at home. So instead, she looked at them with awe, maybe she could test poison anitidotes with them, but then she would have to get a new snake as her grandmother had killed the old venomous one. After some time, she came across a bush that had the exact herbs she was looking for, so she quickly dropped her woven basket on the ground and fell to her knees. With an overly enthusiastic smile, the girl picked them excitedly and placed them in the basket, her father hadn't yet told her what he was making and she was eager to find out.
What Rainbow hadn't noticed (which was unusual, since her senses and reflexes were normally extremely sharp for this specific purpose) was the people whom were hiding in bushes behind her, as she hummed away happily, she didn't seem to hear the tall men approach from behind her, and by the time she did it was too late. One of them quickly wrapped a rope around her neck, which caused her to splutter out, another stuffed a soaked rag into her mouth and smirked "be quite or else my friend's gonna have to tug that rope even harder, you hear?" this made Rainbow glare, she couldn't really respond with a rag in her mouth could she?
Of course, as she had predicted, the wet rag was soaked in some kind of sedative, although she couldn't pin point exactly what kind. So, it wasn't long before she felt her eyelids getting heavy, and soon they closed...
It's been three months since I was kidnapped and sold off, life wasn't all too bad and I had somewhat gotten used to the rancid smell of woman's makeup and sex. It turns out I was sold off to the Royal Canterlot Castle, the men had pretended to be my family and had struck a deal with the buyer that half of my earnings working in the castle would go to them. I could pretend to be infuriated but in reality I'm not, my home isn't too far from the castle and I only have to work for a year or two, that coupled with my lack of beauty makes it so I'm not a part of the actual harem so I don't have to worry about the other women, really all I have to do is clean clothes and eat.
Though, I do hope my father's eating his meals and taking care of himself, he must be worried sick...
I used to work with the prostitutes of my home district, but honestly I can't tell the difference between them and the court consorts, though saying that aloud might get me killed. At least I didn't have to deal with perverted men as male entry into the harem section was strictly forbidden unless you were the emperor or one of those gay monks, or "Eunuchs" as they're called. I'd also be lying if I pretended I wasn't upset about being here though, as although life is sort of luxery, I had worked so hard to live as a doctor. Maybe they had somehow mistaken me to be someone else?
To be honest I don't really care, as long as I don't actually have to join the harem I'm good.
As I walked down the hallway of the lower palace, I heard footsteps approach me "e-excuse me!" I heard a delicate voice say, as I looked back I saw a rather distressed looking servant. She stopped before me, catching her breath before speaking again "hey, this may sound weird but could you tell me what tag this room belongs in?"
"What tag...?" I looked and saw the room number "oh, that's room 9 of Lady Octavia, so just go left and keep going until you see that big lavender door" I shrugged.
"Ah, thank you very much!" She smiled before quickly darting off. I sighed, she was probably one of the servants who couldn't read, although we're taught common and basic manners, literacy is something the higherups could care less about when it came to us lower servant girls. To put it simply, if your goal is to be promoted into a consort, appearance is everything.
Of course, a flat chested, freckles and eyebag having foreigner like me wouldn't stand a chance against the pureblooded girls with elegant features. This would upset me if I actually wanted to be a part of the harem, however that looked like extra work so I would rather not. And the worst part of a promotion would mean my dirty kidnappers would gain a larger sum of money.
Yeah, fuck that noise.
It turns out my prediction of working for a bit and leaving was too idealistic, my father would always comment of my sense of justice and need for answers, if I had known this would affect my simple life in the palace, I would have kept my mouth shut.
"So it's totally a curse, right!?"
"Pinkie, please stop yelling, also what the hell are you on about?"
I sat in my seat, yawning as I ate a spoonful of rice. I was sitting with Pinkamena Diane Pie, or Pinkie Pie if you're not a snobby shithead. Pinkie was a harem servant just as I was, she was known for how bubbly and talkative she could be, and although she came from a poor family, she would go about her daily chores as if she had no care or problems in the world. Pinkie did have one major flaw though.
She was very superstitious.
She believed any rumor she was told and was always one to believe in the supernatural "you don't know Dashie!?" She shrieked, reaching over the grab my clothes and essantially smushing her face on mine. Apparently my deadpan glare didn't get through to her that I wasn't amused, because she then brought her lips to my ear and whispered "don't you know? All the emperor's babies have been dying"
My eyes widenned a tad bit as she sat back and continued talking "I mean, already three have died, you can't tell me that isn't some witch lady bozo! I mean, his first son died just before he was crowned, the another princess died, and then after he was crowned his second heir died too! It's totally witch lady bozo!"
"Are there any living kids?" I asked Pinkie, continuing my food.
The pink haired girl nodded "oh, yes! There's the three month old heir and the six month old princess!" I had noticed Pinkie had a scrunched up face, I sighed, this usually meant she was going to go on a tangent, but in a situation like this she might have something useful to say "you know what I find totally suspicious? The emperor favors Lady Celestia more, but Lady Luna has the higher rank! Does that make any sense?"
I stared up at her "well, duh? Of course it does? Look" I sat up straight with a stretch before looking towards Pinkie "yeah the emperor favors Celestia more, but Celestia gave birth to a baby girl, the princess, Luna gave birth to a baby boy though, the heir to the thrown" I then took another bite of my food, covering my mouth as I ate "so, that makes Luna on top technically, even though the Emperor likes Celestia more"
Pinkie rested her head on her hand "so Luna's on top just because she gave birth to a boy? Sounds like bozo..."
"It really is..." I finished my rice and brushed my plate to the side "I saw the doctor going towards Lady Luna's room earlier-" before I could even finish, Pinkie cut me off with a shriek.
"OH NO! LADY LUNA'S BABY'S GONNA DIE! THE CURSE GOT TO HER!" she cried out, shivering in her seat.
"Stop yelling, also I totally doubt it's a legit curse, most likely it's... an illness" I began thinking, as boring as I found traditional eduction, my father had magically gotten me interested in medicine and the human body. Granny considered it a miracle that someone like me would enjoy that but I digress, I decided to put all of my knowledge to use and try to think of a more realistic answer to the sudden deaths. It could be an illness as I said, and going by the fact that it seemed to affect only the emperor's babies, it could be some kind of hereditary disease "a form of cancer maybe..." I muttered.
"Cancer?" Pinkie suddenly yelled "really? I've never seen a cancer person before so maybe Lady Luna's condition fits it?" I looked up at Pinkie with a quirked brow, listening as she continued "apparently all the babies got super sick and weak before they died, even Lady Luna's ill! According to the gossiping attendants, she's been having stomach aches, nausea, and her magic seems to always flake out when she's trying to use it, which ends in painful headaches!"
"Headaches, Nausea and stomach aches huh..."
I refused to believe in such a stupid rumor, casting curses on people was outlawed years ago, not only that but it was quite easy to trace magic back to its user, if someone was truly dumb enough to curse the emperor's children, they would have been caught by now and publicly executed. But, I decided to go and check out the scene anway, it was stupid of me to assume it would go smoothly though.
There's no way consorts of such high caliber as Lady Luna and Lady Celestia would be down at the lower level palace, so it was a long walk but I had to make my way all the way to the upper palace. On my way to the medical room, I was stopped by gasping and shouting "huh...?" I muttered, slowly making my way to the loud crowd that had gathered.
"You witch! You did it, didn't you!?"
I saw a pale skinned woman with dark blue hair tied with black crystals and golden hair pins, she wore a simple yet elegant blue gown with black rims and violet sheers. This woman proceeded to slap the lady infront of her, whom landed on the ground with a grunt. This other woman was also pale, signifying that she too was a pureblood. She also had long hair which was a mixture of pinks, greens and sky blues, however hers was in a simple tied ponytail that was imbedded with sun shaped emblems and golden trinkets. Her gown was flowing and white, she wore a golden corset with black and silver sewing, her dress had large free sleeves and a cleavage exposing slit in the middle. It then clocked to me who the women were.
Lady Celestia and Lady Luna, the sister consorts.
I watched in shock as Lady Luna glared down at Lady Celestia, who was sitting on the floor with a distraught expression on her face "because your own bastard child is a female and could never take the thrown, you decided to curse my baby to death! You witch, you foul witch!"
Lady Celestia looked up with tears in her eyes "sister, you know I would never harm you or your baby! What would come out of the death of my own nephew!?"
"Shut up you witch! Never come near me or my baby again, or lord so help me I will rain hell upon you and your bastard child!" She shrieked before turning around and stomping off.
I sighed, now this had become a scandal, which would make it even more difficult for me to get the truth to them. I kept watching as the doctor helped Lady Celestia to her feet and frantically explained all of his bogus theories to her as to what may be happening, I grimaced, refusing to believe that such an incompetent fool was the doctor of the palace. How could he not figure it out? It was dead easy, I mean, the sudden nausea, the infant deaths, the stomach and head aches, the lack of proper magic use, and more importantly Lady Luna has lost a lot of weight....
Just as I thought, this isn't a dumb curse.
I needed to find a way to tell them, but who would listen to a low level servant? Plus Lady Luna looks way too angry to care what I have to say...
This was so lame.
Not even a month after the confrontation, Lady Luna's baby, the heir, had died. I had written a note to the two ladies as a warning, but it was anonymous and probably seemed suspicous as hell, no wonder they didn't believe me. Though, it's still sad to see all my efforts were for naught....
After the death of the prince, Lady Luna seemed to fall into a pit of illness and insanity, no longer "the lady of the moon" as everyone had called her. She slowly went from a proud and elegant woman to a sickly and exhausted skeleton who wasn't far from death. I sighed, it wasn't long till the same thing happened to Lady Celestia...
"So right after the confrontation, someone placed this on your window?"
"Yes, that is indeed what happened"
In a room far into the upper palace sat Lady Celestia and a blue haired male, this man was rather attractive, his obvious dark skin signified he was a foreigner, however his gorgeous face managed to somehow make up for it. This man wore a long white simple robe with gold and blue trimming and sheers, he looked over the note with his emerald green eyes and looked back up at the lady "so, this is how Lady Luna's baby died?"
Celestia nodded with a solemn look "yes, according to the note that is, I'm unsure if sister also recieved the letter, if she did..."
"Then she willingly ignored it..." the man finished.
Celestia gave a hollow chuckle "I doubt sister would want the death of her own baby, if I had any idea how harmful that stuff was I would have ordered the whipping of the merchants... and to think this whole time we believed it was a curse"
The man nodded "we're lucky you didn't use any of that stuff my Lady, but I also feel the need to take the blame, that substance should have been properly checked before imported"
Celestia shook her head "Soarin, you did absolutely nothing wrong..." the woman took a breath "I wonder who wrote the note? For them to be so knowledgable on something like this..."
Soarin smirked "say Lady, what if I were to find who wrote this for you?"
"Huh, I've been summoned? For what?"
The Eunuch looked at me plainly "yeah, got to the chief Eunuch's office"
"There's a chief gay monk? What does he want?"
"..."
The Eunuch simply blinked at me and walked away, I shrugged, judging by how he was calling all lower servants, it was probably a mass search for something. The Eunuch led as all to a room in the middle palace, we all walked in, the other girls whispering about someone named 'Soarin', gushin everytime his name was mentioned. Soon came in someone with dark blue hair and dark brown skin, they wore a white cloak, similar to the other Eunuchs but more intricately made. "Wait, that's a dude?" I mumbled as he walked closer "I'm assuming that's Soarin... so I'm guessing he's a bisexual monk" I chuckled. He sure was a pretty boy, I could see why the others were gushing and blushing.
Soarin sat in a chair, another Eunuch standing beside him. This Eunuch was a female, which was odd, I thought only dudes could be Eunuchs? This woman was also clearly a foreigner, as I and Soarin were. She had bright orange hair that stuck up and lighter brown skin, her eyes were a firey orange and her expression was serious.
Soarin soon held up a note, it wasn't long before all the girly giggling turned into suprised whispering:
May the rainbow haired female please stay behind?
At first I sighed, watching as everyone walked away, I wondered why he didn't just say so, but when I saw that smirk on his face I realized.
He was testing me, so he checked by...
This was some sick prank, a joke...
Of course I would stay behind....
I WAS THE ONLY SERVANT THAT COULD READ!
Soarin stood up and approached me, holding onto my shoulder "follow me" he simply said. This was completely and utterly jarring, I didn't want anyone to know I wrote the notes! I mean sure, it would be totally awesome to get a raise, but most of my money is going to those dirty kidnappers! That coupled with the ruckus the illiterates would make wasn't worth it in my eyes.
Who knew my own awesomeness would be my demise?
As we walked, I assume Soarin got bored of the silence and began speaking to me "weird, I never thought a foreigner would be able to read"
I assumed he was trying to compliment me in a weird insulting way and chose not to throw a hissy fit "yeah, I'm pretty low born, but aren't you a foreigner too? Yet you can clearly read and write..."
"Inquisitive I see" Soarin chuckled "while I am born to two foreign parents, I was born in and raised in Canterlot, tell me, where are you from?"
"Cloudsdale" I quipped.
Soarin chuckled "a true outsider!"
"Whatever" I plainly responded, trying to end this conversation. Instead I went to thinking of how I could have been caught, I'm a pretty fast runner and can scope my surroundings rather well, but I guess someone saw me. And finding a girl with rainbow hair wouldn't be too difficult, but he still went through the trouble of comparing all of the servants? Either this guys is super dilligent or he has way too much free time.
We soon made it to to the upper palace and Soarin stopped in front of a door that had an image of the sun imprinted on it, he knocked, and soon a feminine voice could be heard "come in!" she yelled.
Soarin opened the door and ushered me in with a smile "I brough the note writer my Lady!"
In the middle of the room stood Lady Celestia, she was holding the princess in her hands, giggling as the baby occasionally gripped her finger. She smiled upon seeing me and walked towards me "you must be the mysterious letter writer? Thank you so much for what you have done!" She said with a... bow!?
The second she bowed I almost fell over "w-wait! I can't recieve such treatment from someone who outranks me!" I quickly stuttered, caught off guard.
Lady Celestia shook her head "my gratitude goes beyond my status, if it wasn't for you I would have lost my precious Twilight... I owe you everything"
I watched as she stroked the baby's violet hair, smiling a little bit before shaking my head. Again, I didn't want to be in a situation where my kidnappers gained more money "as much as I appreciate it your grace, I think you've got the wrong person"
"Don't try that miss spectrum hair" Soarin snorted before bringing out the note "I have here the note written by the mysterious note writer, notice how it's written on an odd piece of clothing fabric? Well, it turns out this is a piece of cloth is from clothing belonging to a lower servant, which is funny because" he then pointed at my uniform "your skirt looks like it's been ripped"
I really didn't like this guy.
I sighed "fine, you got me, it was me that wrote the note" I then bowed "you see your grace, once I had figured out the truth, I decided to let you and Lady Luna know by writing those notes, it was an easy solution to an easy problem, the face powder contained poison, once you stopped using it it should no longer harm you"
Lady Celestia blinked "but how did you know?"
I shrugged "before my foster father took me in and got me into medicine, I used to work as a runner in a prostitution district back in Cloudsdale. My job was simple, smuggle drugs. I also had another job, the prostitutes would place bets on me and some other kids, we would have to race to win the money, and I always won" I then brushed it off "anyway, I saw some of the prostitutes I used to work with use that power in order to give them paler skin, because a dark skinned foreigner, especially a Cloudsdale native, was seen as in no way attractive and would affect their number of clients. While the powder did indeed give them paler skin and made them more desirable, the poison laced in the powder began negitively affecting them and soon they lost both their beauty and their lives... I realized the powders had poison once I had began work as an apothecary under my father..."
Lady Celestia and Soarin looked at each other and nodded in content, probably happy that I confessed "may I ask your name?" she gently spoke.
"R-Rainbow Dash your grace" I responded.
"Well, in that case" she stood up straight and managed to look professional and graceful, even with her baby in hand "I hereby commend you, Rainbow Dash, as my personal attendant!"
So...
In the end I ended up getting that damn promotion.
Shoot.
Equestria was made up of three groups, the Purebloods, the Earth Types and the Foreigners.
Rainbow Dash was a foreigner, although their given names were "Cloud Types" or "Pegasi", they were simply called foreigners by the purebloods and the nickname stuck. Foreigners were born with wing shaped marking on their backs, Rainbow being born with blue ones, this meant they had the ability to fly. Rainbow sadly wasn't able to fly much as she stayed in the palace but whenever she did she took over the skies, all a foreigner has to do was jump and they could choose whether they wanted to land or fly. Foreigners could also handle clouds and weather, hence why they were usually blamed for bad weather.
Then there were the Earth Types and they were known for their strength, it is said that with raw strength alone, the earth types could easily take over the purebloods if they really wanted to. You can tell when someone is an earth type based on weird markings on their hands (lovingly nicknamed "cutie marks") as they are born with them, similar to the faux wings on a foreigners back.
Last but not least there were the Purebloods, professionally named "Magic Types" or "Unicorns", they were seen as the superior race and had the most power, as they were the only race that could harness and use magic. All purebloods looked the same, super pale skin was the norm, however that wasn't their main feature. Purebloods were born with colored circles around their arms that resembled ribbon bracelets, these markings glowed as they used their magic. Purebloods treated earth types like dirt, but when it came to foreigners they were treated like subpar sewage, which in turn caused the earth types to treat foreigners the same way.
The sad part is you either got used to it or died fighting back.
Lady Celestia was a lot of things, beautiful, kind, pureblooded and more, one thing she wasn't though was stupid. For her to choose just anyone to be her personal attendant would be careless as it would most certainly end in her death, as the Emperor's favorite concubine, it was only natural that many other women would want her dead. If she wasn't careful she wouldn't make it out of the palace alive. So because of this Lady Celestia had only four attendants (five, if you count me), which was rather small especially when compared to Lady Luna's twelve. Many worried that if Lady Celestia didn't raise her number soon, her influence and power in the palace would deminish quickly, however the woman always brushed this off.
After getting promoted as an attendant, I was given my own room, so I guess I became kind of famous. It really pissed me off that my bastard kidnappers would gain a higher sum of money, but I chose to focus on the good, which was that I didn't have to listen to Pinkie's horrifying snoring any longer. I painted my room with lightning bolts, clouds and many more, my father believed that my love for speed and flashing lights led to my love of thunderstorms whilst my grandmother believed I was just not a very safe person.
I guess it was a little bit of both.
I found myself slumped on my surprisingly comfy bed, sighing. I couldn't figure out what job I had to do, though I didn't care as long as I didnt have to deal with the makeup or outfits here. I somewhat got along with the other attendants but they all seemed to give me weird looks, like that violet haired one from earlier....
After a short while of unpacking, Rainbow Dash awkwardly stumbled across Lady Celestia's quarters, she watched with intrugue, trying her best to remember whe they were. There was Rarity, a pureblood Ponyville native, she had long purple hair that had multiple soft curls in them, she seemed to be in charge of the consort's beauty, especially in regards to makeup or clothing. She was certainly attractive enough to be a concubine herself, there were times where she could be rather tempermental though, so Rainbow tried to remember that.
Then there was Fluttershy, a light skinned foreigner, you could tell she was a foreigner due to the fact that on her visible shoulder plates there were two yellow wings plastered on it. She had long and wavy pink hair and as noticed by Rainbow (with a hint of jealousy might I add) was rather blessed in the chest region. Another thing Rainbow had noticed was the girl's skittish and quiet behavior, everytime she was approached Fluttershy visibly resisted the urge to squeal in shock and whenever she spoke it only ever came out as a small whisper. Dash decided to avoid upsetting her, she'd probably feel bad afterwards.
Then there was Applejack, an earth type Ponyville native. Applejack was rather cool headed but also a huge workaholic, she had blonde hair that was tied with one simple red ribbon and freckles dotted all over her face. Applejack seemed to be the blunt type who always spoke her mind, this made Rainbow internally scheme ways to piss the girl off, assuming it would be funny.
Last but not least there was Starlight Glimmer, the head attendant. She was a pureblood who was in charge of watching over the other three and making sure they did their jobs properly, she was also in charge of acting as a caretaker to Princess Twilight, Lady Celestia's baby. Starlight had large curly hair that was a mix of purples and teels, her outfit while still simple was very obviously more well made and had more fancy designs than the other attendants. Starlight seemed to be very strict and loyal, said by AJ to "over do it a lot" so Rainbow chose to be on her best behavior around her.
After roaming she chose to approach Rarity, who was dusting off the windows "hey um..." she began before stopping "I finished unpacking, is there anything you want me to do?"
Rarity looked down at the short girl "oh... you're the..." the pale woman then clasped her hands and quickly turned Rainbow around, borderline pushing her "oh, it's quite alright dearie, we four can most definately handle this on our own, so you just go and rest! You must be exhausted from unpacking and moving!" Rarity smiled.
Rainbow pouted "but I barely had anything to move or unpack..."
Before she knew it, the two were at the door "here, have some left over honey snacks from the recent tea party!" She said before scrambling the pouch into her hands "make sure you eat..." Rarity finished with an odd expression on her face, and before Rainbow Dash could respond the door was slammed in her face.
I feel like I should have been offended.
It was no secret that Lady Celestia's attendants were hard workers, it was seen as the norm for lower servants to come and clean a consorts room, however that wasn't needed as the four attendants would do it all alone. They also took care of baby Twilight, which only led me to the conclusion that the wet nurse was fired, and since Lady Celestia wasn't using the powder I assume it was the wet nurse. I never got to be a hard worker at first, everytime I asked to help out, the four attendants would push me away and give me food to console. It seemed as though my job was to just lounge and eat, and although that may sound ideal, that wasn't the type of life I wanted. I was lazy but I still wanted to do something.
And now that I think about it, that look Rarity gave me was rather suspicious. I knew those who entered the Solar Palace (Lady Celestia's domain) were a dime in a dozen, so of course a pennyless foriegner like me would get weird looks from the noble pureblooded girls, but that look Rarity gave me...
Pity, it was pity.
But why?
So, I found out why Rarity was so sorry for me.
When food was prepared for any of the Emperor's consorts, it had to pass through multiple different people before it even reached their table, and as the Emperor's favored, Lady Celestia's food had to be the most thoroughly checked as more people would want her dead. It's said that when she was pregnant, two of the food tasters were poisoned and only one made it out alive, meaning she was served poison twice.
Even worse, after what happened to the now dead prince, everyone's been even more panicked and worried, and normally they would use a lower servant as a food tester...
No wonder Rarity felt so sorry for me.
Of course they would, they believed as I was being used as some kind of soak rag, that being said, why in the name of Luna's dark plot was Soarin smiling at me like that?
Anyway, I couldn't tell the level of cloudiness from magic or any potions in the bowl since they used a wooden one.
The smell is fine...
The color seems to be okay, no mix or merging...
I put it in my mouth, and nothing is going numb...
...
...
"From what I can tell it seems fine" I said, which was followed by a collective sigh. The chef then gave me another plate and asked me to test it, I realize now that if slow acting poison was used then the need for a food tester becomes obsolete, and even if it was fast acting it probably wouldn't work on me.
Why?
Well, when I was back at home, to test my strength and what my body could take, I did a lot of experiments on myself. I did some crazy shit like purposely chug the juice made from poisonous fruits, make a venomous snake bite be to see how long I could hold out until I needed to use an antidote, I would see how bad permanent scars could be by purposely burning myself, and of course I was known for running and flying non stop at full speed until I eventually crashed into things. Anyway, little by little my body grew used to things such as poison so I guess having me as the food taster is sort of a bad idea, I guess you could say I was lucky.
After I tested the food, I went up to Starlight who was fanning herself off in a corner "yo, head attendant lady" I said as I approached her "I personally think you guys should use silver plates, since a majority of potions are made with magic and magic disintegrates and becomes more noticable in silver, meaning you could probably see the clouds and sparkles from it, using silver plates would be better if you really wanna identify the poison" I shrugged.
Starlight stared into my eyes for a bit before letting out a sigh "that's... exactly what Soarin said you'd say, we do usually use silver plates for that exact reason, but he said to use a wooden plate and see if and when you point it out"
I rolled my eyes "so the bisexual monk was testing me?"
"Bisexual... monk?"
Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy roamed around the Solar Palace walls, chatting "well, ah'll say that newbie's got some horrible scars, ah mean, they're worse than mahn and ah used tah fight for ah livin'!" Applejack said with a stretch "what in tha name of Chrysalis' wig did she do tah get 'em?"
Fluttershy shrugged "she is a foreigner... and it's obvious she was sold off... who knows what she's been through..."
Rarity gasped "oh no, isn't obvious!?"
AJ looked around "nah, not really Rare"
Rarity rolled her eyes "well duh" she placed a hand to her chest "the poor girl was obviously kidnapped, they probably abused her since she was a foreigner, giving her all of those scars! How horrific!"
Fluttershy's eyes got wide "and after they got bored of treating her like a plaything, they sold her off to the harem...!"
AJ nodded "only tah eventually become ah food tester for poison..."
The three women looked at each other, before Rarity gently dabbed her eyes with a hankerchief and the three spoke "what a tragedy!"
I was only ever summoned twice a day, which was so I could test Lady Celestia's main meals. After some time the other attendants got used to me, and I realized how oddly nice to me they were acting, that didn't matter though. One day this all changed when I was addressed by the Emperor himself, I didn't know his actual name nor did I know what he looked like, but I was asked to go to his room because he apparently wanted to speak to me about something, which scared me because the Emperor wanting to speak to someone meant two things:
He wanted to sleep with me (which is highly unlikely given my lack of purebloodedness, my not so attractice look and the fact that I wasn't a royal consort).
I was going to recieve corporal or capital punishment for something I did.
I reluctantly made my way to the Emperor's room, his room was decked out with weaponry and armor, the whole place had a red and black color scheme which only gave me the creeps even more. Then I saw him and almost pissed myself.
This man was pale, as in, the empitome of pureblood pale. He had black hair that reached his shoulders and ominously piercing red eyes. He wore a black and golden robe that was embroided with a lot of rose imagery, there was a painting of Lady Celestia to his right and of Lady Luna to his left. This man looked me up and down, his eyes peering me up and down before reaching my head, he was probably gawking at my weirdly colored hair. He probably wasn't expecting a foreigner with rainbow hair, freckles and heavy eyebags when he called for me, did he. He soon coughed, placing his ring laced fingers together.
"So, you're the speedy rainbow haired herbalist the rumors have been talking of? Certainly not what I expected, 'the rainbow streak' they call you, apprently nobody can catch up with you and you could outrun a panther if you tried to" he chuckled.
I knew now wasn't the time to brag, but I just had to "correction, I can outrun a panther, I can also outfly a bald eagle and outrun cheetah"
The Emperor looked at my with a look of surprise, he then chuckled "what is your name?"
"Rainbow Dash sir" I quickly responded.
"Rainbow Dash? Well, you may already know me but I feel the need to introduce myself, I am Emperor Sombra" he smiled "and I call onto you today for I hear that aside from your inhumane speeds, that you are also gifted with herbs and medicine"
I nodded "yes sir, I worked as an apothecary before coming here"
"That's good to know... as you know Lady Luna has been extremely ill and her condition seems to get worse with every passing day, would you take a look at it for me?"
I resisted the urge to grimace, I knew that what he expected was for me to heal her and make her feel better, and if it were truly poison and she was being treated competently then she should already be better, if not then I probably couldn't make her better. However, that look on his face stopped me from speaking or saying that to him, Emperor Sombra had a smile, it wasn't one of glee or amusement, it was a smile of triumph. He knew that I couldn't say anything in response and he knew that I had no choice, he looked at me as if I could magic Lady Luna's illness away, but I couldn't and I felt bad for not being able too. That smile...
It scared me.
So to avoid losing my head I decided to nod and agree before leaving, it wasn't long before I found myself at the Eclipse Moon Palace the next day.
"UNBELIEVABLE!"
I watched in boredom as a rather pampered attendant slapped a plate of food from my hand "do you really expect Lady Luna to eat such... FOREIGNER FOOD!?" she yelled in my face, grimacing as she took in my features "you better make your dirty ass useful and go make something else!" I watched her as the others laughed and she walked towards them, she was dressed similarly to Starlight and had purple hair tied in multiple buns, I could tell she was a Ponyville native based on the odd markings on her hands that seemed to look like buttons, meaning she was an earth type. "I assume that's Suri Polomare, the head attendant for this place..." I muttered.
I didn't understand what was so wrong with the food, as if Lady Luna was to truly get healed then she needed her eating habits fixed A.S.A.P. Since it was poison in her body, she needed to properly release it from her body via pee or poop, meaning it would be better for her diet to consist of fruits rather than meats and dry rice, to think me using common sense would end in my own cooking being slammed on the ground. God, I feel bad for Lady Luna, having herself be surrounded by such morons should be equivalent to suicide.
I watched as Suri scoffed at me before bringing Lady Luna her usual meal, granted it was very nutritional and had a lot of fruits and such, how in the name of Cadence's necklace should a woman who can barely breath without assistsnce eat such a heavy meal? Do this idiotic biscuit heads not think? Are their brains filled with fancy hair trinkets? As Lady Luna began violently coughing, the girls panicked, and Suri pointed at me "it's because of that nasty foreigner, she's contaminating Lady Luna's precious air! Kick her out before she pollutes our lungs!"
I scowled "hey, don't you dare touch me!"
...
I ended up being kicked out.
I realized that since those idiots didn't listen, Lady Luna was most likely going to die...
No...
Lady Celestia would never forgive me if I let her die!
With force I opened the door and held back a laugh as they all jumped and looked at me, I gave the women a harsh look "now listen here you dumbasses, I was ordered by Emperor Sombra himself to make sure Lady Luna makes it out alive, and I refuse to fail my job" I then calmly walked towards Suri and looked her dead in the eyes "if Lady Luna doesn't make it, I will happily tell him that you all purposely stopped me from being able to treat her"
"Th-The Emperor sent you?" Suri stuttered.
"Yes, now move" I said before barging past her and approaching the dying consort. Her eyes had practically caved in and her body was extremely malnurished, I held on to her hand "cold..." I muttered under my breath before tracing a finger on her cheek "sleek, they still apply makeup to her?" I asked before looking at the substance. It was plain white with dots of red.
Wait a second...
I stood still, horrified by what I had discovered. I turned around slowly, glaring at every single attendant in the room "so..." I began "which one of you does the Lady's makeup?" I said, walking around before pointing at Suri "let me guess, it's you?"
Suri snorted "well, duh? Only I know how to make her grace look as elegant and as graceful as she does!"
I didn't respond, all I did was jump and locked myself in flight mode. I floated upwards so I could be face to face with Suri and did what any normal person would do.
I slapped her, as hard as I could.
The sound of the connection echoed through the room, I watched as Suri fell to the ground and the other attendants gasped "what the hell!?" some random one yelled.
I didn't look up at them as I landed "what do you think? I'm simply making an embarrassing idiot feel like an embarrassed idiot" I said before grabbing Suri by the buns in her hair and dragging her towards Lady Luna's counter. She constantly yelled about how much it hurt but I could honestly care less, I grunted, picking up a countainer full of powder before pouring it on the morons head, making her cough "you do realize this is full of poison, right?"
Suri looked up at me, crying as I knelt down to her level "so I hope you feel happy, now you get to look elegant and graceful too" I then pointed at the dying consort "and just like your precious Lady Luna, you'll get to enjoy eyes that cave into their sockets, sagging skin, and a body so weak that breathing becomes a challenge" I made sure to hit her again "are you really that stupid!? Or did you simply ignore why this was banned!? This is what made her sick in the first place, and instead of taking the initiative to throw it away and using your common sense and not using it anymore, you choose to consistantly expose her to the thing that is trying to kill her!?"
Suri's lip began wobbling "b-but I couldn't f-find any other powders! A-And that was just so pretty, I-I thought she'd like it most..."
I felt my eye twitch "you... you really have the nerve to sit there and make such a moronic excuse for poisoning a dying woman? And expect me to believe it? What, are you trying to insult my intelligence...?"
I placed my hand on the powdered floor and took a hands full, smearing it all over the earth type's face, before bringing her face close to mine.
"Tell me Polomare, who the FUCK under Lady Faust's gracious sun would want the poison that ended their own child's life...!?"
I finally let go of her and watched as she fell on the floor "go and clean your face" I said before looking at the others "and you morons! Why the hell are you just standing there!? Someone go and wash off Lady Luna's face and come and clean this mess on the floor before she ends up inhaling it! Do it at once, that is an order!" I yelled, walking off to make a plate of diluted rice for her, not paying any mind to the scrambling attendants.
In my fit of rage, I hadn't noticed Soarin standing just outside the kitchen, watching me "woah... tell me to never piss of a short person again, especially if they have rainbow hair and can fly"
His quip had calmed me down enough for me to realize what I had done "woah... I did that?" I quietly said before squealing "duuuude... that was so kickass! I was so awesome back there! Did you see how I slapped her? The way I dragged her back? Like... um... some kind of evil empress!" I celebrated.
Soarin sighed "only you Dash would excited over publicly humiliating someone"
Lady Luna's condition was even more horrible than I had imagined, even after I had diluted her rice and cereals in water, the poor woman could barely reach for the spoon, so I was in turn made to force the food down her throat. I grimaced as I took a whiff of her, the sent of urination and sickness was very strong and only made me feel even angrier "so not only do these idiots give her poison on the daily, but they don't even have the decency to wash her properly...!?"
I made my way to the living area where they were resting "listen idiots, it turns out you guys couldn't even wash her properly, so I'm gonna need one of you to set up a bucket with hot water and a cloth, and I better see a good chunk of you helping, ya hear? You already almost killed her, the least you could do is make sure she doesn't stink" I said before walking back, smirking as they went on about how 'rude' I was being to them. I found it funny how they could call me dirty and claim I was polluting the air, but me calling them idiots for almost causing the death of the person they were working for was apparently rude.
I made sure Lady Luna dranks as much tea as possible, and the second I realized she was able to chew and swallow without assistance I began adding fruits to her meals and increasing the amount of rice she ate. One day as I was preparing her meal she turned her head to face me "wh..."
I looked down at her "yes your grace?"
"Wh... why didn't you... let me simply... die...?" She barely croaked out.
At first I stood still, a little shaken as that was the first thing she had said to anyone in almost a month, however I quickly regained my composure "well my Lady, if you truly want to die you can just stop eating" I said before bringing her spoon, as I had expected she opened her mouth and took the rice "as long as you continue to eat, that's a sign you don't want to die" I smiled.
The consort looked at me "y... you wor... work with Tia, yes?" I nodded "tell.... her th... at I'm sorry for... hitting her..." she caught her breath "and... calling her a.... witch..."
As time passed, Lady Luna began slowly recovering, and after two months of her treatment, she had began walking on her own and was beginning to gain her magic back which allowed her to do simple spells such as levitation, not only that but Suri had apparently been whipped and sent home. I sighed, as long as she wasn't poisoned again she would be alright. To be honest, I was afraid that once she was healed she would begin treating me like a garbage foreigner as her attendants had, but she didn't and I had realized that although she was extremely proud... she wasn't a narssicist. After the confrontation I had been under the impression that she was cruel and malicious, only caring about herself and the emperor, but that wasn't the case. If anything I believe she had an attitide more fit for an empress than even Lady Celestia had.
"Rainbow Dash... shall I ever get pregnant?"
I stood infront of Lady Luna as she sat on her bed in her night clothes "I dunno to be honest, you're gonna have to wait and see"
She gave a hollow chuckle "wait and see? I wasted the Emperor's favor and killed his son... I see no reason as to why he would ever visit me again..."
I simply bowed "the one who ordered me to help you was the Emperor himself, I'm pretty sure he'll come and see you again, I dunno when but probably when I've returned to the Solar Sun Palace" now, I wasn't sure if his visit would he fueled by his own personal feelings or the politics of the situation, but I'm pretty sure even Lady Luna knew that love and affection were non existant in a royal harem.
"How...? How can a woman like me, a woman who ignored all warnings and ended up killing his son... win against Lady Celestia?"
I let out and exhale and walked towards a flower vase "whether you can win or not means jack in my opinion, I mean there's like what, a billion different types of flowers in this world?" I gently played with the lilys that had been placed there "I mean, how stupid would it be if we all focused on how pretty the petals are or how straight the stem is?"
Lady Luna blushed before fiddling with her fingers "b-but I don't have soft pink eyes or two toned hair..."
I gave a quick glance at her chest and shrugged "well, if it accounts for anything you're like waaaay bigger than your sister" I said, earning a blush from Luna and a glare from the attendants "what I mean is, you always had size in your favor, you're totally more confidant than Lady Celestia and a lot better built, I'd say your body and personality are your biggest weapons against her, actually..." I walked up to her "could I have your ear for a second?" Lady Luna nodded as I began whispering to her, after some time she continued to blush even harder until her face was red.
"Oh my..." she quietly said as she looked down at her chest, before falling back with a squee and embarrassed giggles.
I smirked "I'll be taking my leave tomorrow morning" I simply stated before walking off. What had I told her? Well, back when I worked with the prostitutes, they taught me something called "the secret technique", granted I didn't and still don't have the body to use it so it was sort of wasted for me, but I realized it was probably made for someone like Lady Luna anyway.
Hm, you wanna know what it is?
...
...
Nah, I don't feel like telling you.
The Gala and the Consorts
Author's Note
Sorry if the ending is messy! I rushed it and forgot to check it haha
The Gala and the Consorts
Every few years, the Emperor hosts a gala for his consorts, their friends, family etc. This is known as the Grand Galloping Gala and is said to be the most exclusive and luxery event at the Royal Canterlot Palace. There is said to be food, games, royalty galore, music, and some have said they've kick started businesses there.
Rainbow had never been to the gala, according to rumors you need and exclusive invitation written in fine gold parchment to even get in, she never believed that though and thought the gala was just a hoity toity party for hoity toity people.
Then one day, she had to go.
"You want me to do what now?"
"Why my dear, I want you to wear this gown!"
I had stared at Rarity as if she had grown a second head. In front of me, the pureblood held a dress that seemed awfully... fit to my aesthetics let's just say. The dress had a very rainbow inspired design, around the spot that was supposed to show cleavage (which would be non existant for me) was covered in a soft cloud like material that worked as somehwat of a form of coverage, below it was a slim rainbow trimming that I knew has some sort of corset inside of it. Surrounding that trimming was the cloudy material that covered where the hips should be, in the middle of the dress, just below the pelvis area, was a long slit. Assuming that dress was made for me, I guess she put it there for me to run better in it, the rest of the dress had long rainbow streaks and the edges had the same cloudy trimming.
In the basket Rarity had around her elbow, there were golden wrist cuffings, golden slippers that resembled elegant gladiator sandles, a necklace that looked like a bundle of grabes and some weird golden headpiece that looked like olive leaves "Rainbow dearie, I spent so long on this outfit! Not only that but this is the gala we're talking about, you have to look the best!" She then happily skipped to me "I usually make clothes suited for Lady Celestia, but as you're much more frail and... not very bestowed I didn't have to worry about your proportions! You see, I went for some goddess realness with hint of a an airy pegasus noble girl, you will be turning heads-"
I snorted "doubt it, plus I just don't feel interested in that silly gala, I probably won't go-"
"Yes you will!"
I jumped back, only to see Lady Celestia smiling. However, she wore the same smile as Emperor Sombra, she already knew she won this confrontation "but Ladyyyyy!" I whined.
"No buts! All attendants of the nobles must go, you don't wanna embarrass me do you...?" She asked gently.
I paused before sighing "fine, I'll go as long as Rarity makes me a less flashy dress!"
Rarity didn't make me a less flashy dress.
It was a few hours before the gala and my fellow attendants were working very hard!
By that I mean Fluttershy and Rarity were working super hard whilst AJ and I goofed off.
AJ was a cool chick, she wasn't prissy and she wasn't mean, she was blunt and honestly really kind. She was a lot older than me and had been working in the palace for much longer, she claimed she used to both wrestle in a local prostitution district (similar to my racing job) and work on a farm with her family. AJ's contract made it so she had to work for another three years before she could even think about going home, as sad as she said it was, she claimed it was fine as long as the money she made was being sent to her family back at home "So, Jay..." I began "what's the deal with this gala? I thought all the consorts were invited...?"
AJ shook her head "nah, ya see, tha only consorts who can actually go are tha four highest rankin' ones, cuz the Emperor has no empress which means" she brought out her hands and began counting on her fingers "only Lady Celestia, the Solar Sun consort, Lady Luna, the Eclipse Moon consort, Lady Chrysalis, the Ever Changing Hive consort, and Lady Cadence, the Virgin Amore consort can go"
I watched as she stretched and yawned "before ya came, only tha Virgin Amore consort and tha Ever Changing Hive consort attended, Lady Celestia and Lady Luna couldn't go though because they were pregnant at tha tahm" she finished.
"I see... so what exactly do we have to do? As attendants I mean" I asked, scratching the back of my hair.
AJ shrugged "really all we gotta do is smile and wave, that's all ah evah do" she chuckled "Rarity hates it though, she thinks ah gotta be more fancy, since all the 'hot officas' are present and all" she shrugged.
I rolled my eyes, the thought of Soarin making me shudder "will... every officer be there?-"
"BUT OF COURSE!" Rarity shrieked, appearing out of nowhere " This time, all the highest and most prestige of the royal consorts will be in the same vacinity for the unveiling of Princess Twilight! This is means war with all the other attendants, and as attendants of the highest level concubine we must put up the hardest fight! WE WILL DANCE ON THEIR ASHES!"
It was quite funny seeing Rarity rage like that, but at the same time I was extremely afraid not gonna lie. As I brooded over AJ telling me I had to smile and wave to a bunch of unknown men, the now calm attendant approached me as she looked me up and down "it's a good thing I used the special cloud cotten to cover up where your chest would be exposed... we would then had to use padding which is very noticable... maybe I could put something around your hips... or would it fall out of the slit..."
I shrugged "I trust you with everything..." I mumbled.
"SPEAKING OF WHICH!" She yelled "FLUTTERSHY! APPLEJACK! WE HAVE TO DO RAINBOW'S COSMETICS, REMEMBER!?" She yelled.
Oh no...
Before I had the chance to dip, AJ grabbed me by the arms and started pushing me forward "if ah have to do it, so do you!" she boistrously laughed as Rarity bought a wet cloth to my face. I shook my head violently as I saw the rag approach my face.
"Believe me Rares, you'll regret doing this!" I yelled, inevitably stopping my fruitless squirming though.
"No I won't sweetie!" She chuckled before wiping my face in a fast and thorough manner "oh, I can't wait to work on your face! I've never worked on a cloud type before, so sadly I doubt I have the right colors to accommodate such a lovely skin tone... but I'll find away! Also, I didn't realize Rainbow but you have really adorable and pretty features! This is gonna be-" Rarity stopped halfway through her little ramble and looked at me "fun...?"
I sighed "look, I know it's weird and all and I'm sorry-" the magic type then cut me off with a loud clap.
"Ladies" she began with a soft yet noticable smirk "I don't think cosmetics are any longer needed"
Soarin was roaming around like a busy body, constantly greeting people and attempting to show off his charm. Although Soarin was the head Eunuch, and had been so for years, he he had never actually attended The Grand Galloping Gala before, mainly because most of the time he either had meetings or mountains of paperwork, his attendant Spitfire would usually go on his behalf. However, now that he actually had a chance, he wanted to impress everyone as much as possible and would stop at nothing to do so.
Spitfire tailed tiredly behind, sighing constantly "so, that was Lady Cadenza, now it's time to greet Lady Celestia- hey! Wait up!" She groaned, quickly following behind as Soarin practically skipped over to the consort. Lady Celestia was wearing a rather large pure golden tiara with yellow and purple gems encrusted into it, her gown was a soft yellow with white trimming and a long orange veil that was hooked around her shoulders and neck, she wore a yellow choker that had long golden string going down from it that held up a sun emblem.
"Why hello there my lady, you look absolutely radiant as always" Soarin smiled with a bow, Spitfire following soon after.
Lady Celestia giggled "well, you definately know how to charm a woman, don't you?" She smiled.
Soarin chuckled at this and continued "I must say you look stunning in oranges and yellows, truly shows of the elegance that is the Solar Palace"
Celestia rolled her eyes playfully "no amount of flirting will make me allow you to care for baby Twilight" but waved her hand with a laugh "but if you truly want to see her she's in the cot over with Rainbow and Rarity" Soarin's eyes practically sparkled when the baby was mentioned and went dashing over to the attendants, with poor Spitfire staggering behind.
I heard Soarin's signature humming and groaned, I didn't think I'd had to deal with him today. He came up to the cot and looked down, remembering that this was the gala and what AJ had said to me earlier, I looked up at him "merry evening Soarin" and simply said. I was soon overtaken by worry when Soarin continued to stare at me, it wasn't long before he shook his head and pointed.
"Y-Your freckles! Your eye bags! Just how much makeup did you put on?" He said "if it weren't for your rainbow hair there's no way in hell I would have recognized you, no offence but... you just look too pretty!" He spluttered, constantly looking me up and down.
"Kinda rude but thanks" I snorted "as for my face? Nah, I didn't use any makeup whatsoever" I shrugged.
Soarin glared playfully "that's a lie and you know it, you're baggy eyes and freckles are gone, you totally used makeup"
I finger gunned him and shook my head "again, nope, they're gone because I removed my makeup" after looking at his confused expression I sighed "basically, I used paint and dried clay powder to give myself baggy eyes and freckles, so any trace of that adorableness Rarity was gushing over ten minutes ago would be gone!"
Soaring raised a brow "but... what was the point? Like, is there a reason to this?"
I nodded "yup I did it for two reasons, one was so I could be taken more seriously as both a racer and a herbalist and the conversation wouldn't always come back to my looks, and two was so I wouldn't have been bitched out by grandma"
"Bitched... out?"
I continued "basically back in my prostitution disctrict, there was a place called The Factory, which was an abandoned building that used to be connected to rainbow falls, anyway, if a man was too poor to afford an actual harlot, they'd force one of the cuter poor girls to go for free, and I think you know what happens next..." ignoring his clearly horrified expression, I kept speaking "my grandma told me a few creeps wanted me to go, which was odd because I had stopped working at the prostitution district months ago, so I decided that to avoid getting grabbed and molested I would-"
"Make yourself unattractive, thus to avoid lustful eyes..." Soarin heavily exhaled.
I looked down at baby Twilight and gently caressed her cheek "yup, the place was rampid with STDs and violence, but there was no way a thin foreigner with freckles and bags would be taken to The Factory, so I was safe"
Soarin soon sat beside me"where you... taken?"
I chuckled "yes, but it was only attempted, the dude looked at me and demanded a pureblood, so he decided not to sleep with me"
"Oh thank the stars" he said, holding his chest.
"Hold your horses monk boy, it's not all fun and games" I smiled "those guys decided that if they weren't gonna be rapist they were gonna be human trafficers, so they sold me off to the harem a few days later after finding me again in the forest picking herbs... to be honest? I may as well be a prostitute, there isn't much of a difference, so I kinda stopped caring I guess"
"But... they took you! And now they're making money off of you! You're not pissed!?"
I snorted "well, pfft, it goes without saying that I'm fucking mad about it, but crying and weeping won't do shit other than make me feel bad, so I may as well just take it head on"
Soarin stared at me for a bit before bringing out a weird emblem bracelt thingie before wrapping it around my wrist "here" he simply said before quietly walking off.
I stared it it for a while, puzzled as to why he would give me something this precious looking. Before I even had to chance to question how much I could sell it for, the other three attendants approached me with wide eyes "Did Soarin just...? Oh my goodness! How heroic! How kind!" Rarity gushed.
"Huh..?"
"Don't you get it Rainbow? He-!"
Lady Celestia approached us with a smile "come on ladies, it is time for the gala to officially begin!"
Thus, The Grand Galloping Gala began.
Although there was music, a few dancers and courtesans EVERYWHERE, the gala was oddly boring. It wasn't as fun as I had expected, but it also wasn't as hoity toity prissy as I had expected either, I guess you had to have a very specific sense of entertainment to truly enjoy yourself at an event like this. So instead of mingling, I stayed with Fluttershy, who was currently explaining things to me.
"Well" she began "that woman next to him, holding Princess Twilight is Empress Platinum, you probably know her from all the sayings and stories about her, she was married to the late emperor before he died" Fluttershy explained, as she pointed at the lady. The woman had very long blonde hair with natural silver highlights, her hair had many golden and silver trinkets braided and sowed into it. Her face was lean and stunning, replicating an elegant beauty that reminded me of Rarity quite a bit. She also wore a purple gown with silver trimming and diamond encrusted silk, I knew Rarity would be freaking out of she saw her, however one thing really tripped me off about her...
I grimaced "she looks... awfully young, like, barely past twenty four... and wasn't the late emperor in his like... late sixties?"
"Oh, she is! She had the Emperor at only this many years!" She said, counting on her fingers, I watched as she did so.
Yikes...
That must have been one hard pregnancy.
"Then, who's that other seat for?" I asked.
Fluttershy nodded "that's for the Emperor's brother, of whom he has the same mother... I heard he's always really sick and never leaves the house" I shrugged at this, at first I wondered whether he had a job or not, but soon remembered he was the son of the late Emperor, he probably had things hanfed to him on a silver platter, maybe I'd meet him one day, or maybe the Emperor would make me heal him like I did Lady Luna.
Before I could even carry on my thoughts, I could hear Rarity and AJ.
"Rares, calm down!" I looked back to see AJ trying to restrain the rabid pureblood.
"Calm down!? THIS BITCH CALLED ME A PLAIN JANE!" Rarity shrieked.
"Who cares!? We're servants, our job is tah serve our respective ladies, not care about stupid things like fashion!" Applejack retorted.
Judging by the dark blue scheme of their clothing, I assumed the other two were attendants of the Lunar Palace "did you here what the hillbilly earthy said? No wonder she's built like that!" One of them snorted.
"Yeah, look at them! Embarrassing their precious lady by turning up to the gala looking like... like.. some kinda pale skinned foreigners!" The other said nasally.
I watched as Rarity growled in their direction and sighed, due to the level of adoration each attendant had for their ladies, it was very common for royal attendants to scorn the others and rage unofficial war against them. The most rampid was the fued between the Solar and Lunar palace, the attendants of both seemed to despise each other and went after each other alot, mainly going on about how little attendants Lady Celestia had, it wasn't a surprising sight. Fluttershy shook her head "Rarity's trying to fight on Lady Celestia's behalf... again..."
"Haha, I didn't know the rainbow haired freak had a relative?" The girl said as she looked at me "wow! She's so much prettier, no wonder you invited her twin, bringing the actual her would probably scare off the guests!"
The girl beside her laughed "yeah! Knowing her, she wouldn't recieve one piece of jewelry!"
Rarity growled "HOW DARE YOU!?" she yelled "I'll have you know Rainbow Dash is very beautiful and could gain times more jewelry than you witches could ever dream of!"
Fluttershy had long since joined in to hold back the angry magic type, the two somehow struggling to hold back the rabid female. I looked over at one of the girls, she had white hair that was tied up with a simple golden trail, I remembered her. How did she not recognise me?
"How dare demand me to do such physically tasking work!?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes "well... your lady almost died because of you, it's the least you could do..."
The white haired pureblood scoffed "oh really? Don't be so damn cocky or I'm going to tell my father, and he'll deal with you!"
Rainbow jumped, before floating her way towards the girl and pinning her to the wall "then I'll just make sure your body will be too weak to do or tell him anything, believe me, I have many potions for that... or if I'm up to it, I could use other more... unorthodox methods if you catch my drift..." Rainbow smirked darkly.
The girl quickly ran away with many cries of defiance, leaving Dash to sigh "damn... I know those prostitutes said hearing that would scare a girl shitless, but that was quite the reaction..." she then shrugged "it may have been a joke, but hey, it worked"
How could she forget? We were like, tied at the hip for two months! As funny as it was to watch the powdered and pretty Rarity growl curses and threats at these girls, I realized now that I was slowly getting bored of hearing their meaningless jeering. As a cloud type, I got used to hearing insults being thrown at me and the people around me, so usually it wouldn't upset me. However, ever since I began working for Lady Celestia and with the other attendants, hearing them get insulted was... jarring to say the least. So I walked behind the three, and rubbed my cheeks together, before staring at the white haired girl with the same smirk I have her all those weeks ago.
She froze, just as I had predicted "s-same s-smile..."
The other one tilted her head "what? Snowbelle what are you-"
"SHE HAS THE SAME SMILE!" she shrieked before quickly running off as fast as she could, the other one following in a confused manner.
Rarity scoffed "cowards! Also your makeup is awful and your blue, purple and yellow color combinations look guady!" She yelled back.
I was going to laugh at Rarity's 'devistating' insult, I heard even more attendant bickering.
"Are you not the Virgin Amore servants? Wearing bright orange and yellow robes? When will you babysitters learn your place!"
"Does your gown not have holes!? It looks like it was run through mud!"
"You outta shut up! Please tell me you at least get paid extra for babysitting!"
"Do not call us babysitters!"
Fluttershy shook her head "the Ever Changing Hive and Virgin Amore attendants don't get along either... they're age is about as apart as a mother and daughter's, no wonder they're so hostile..."
AJ shook her head "I never understood how those two consorts could be... so apart in age"
"Well from what I know, they used to be mother and daughter-in-law so that should account for something" Rarity shrugged. I guess she saw my confusion and continued "believe me darling it is very convoluted, but to put it simply, five years ago the two of them were crown princess and consort, because as you know, if an Emperor was and Empress he can only have one consort"
Fluttershy nodded "yup, Lady Chrysalis left the castle and returned home, only to come back a few years later as the now Emperor's Ever Changing Hive consort, which was a switch in title as before she hadn't even been a consort"
I was listening, but then paused "wait, if Lady Cadenza is fourteen and this happened five years ago, then she joined the harem when she was...!"
AJ grimaced "nine years old..."
I knew only the late emperor could do this, as he had apprently had a track record of liking more budding fruits as opposed to fully ripe ones, but even if it were purely for political reasons, it still felt fucking disgusting. Not to mention Empress Platinum was taken at a much younger age, it makes me gag. Luckily, Emperor Sombra seems to be a bigger fan of more developed women compared to his father, from what I know he has yet to attempt to impregnate Lady Cadenza even after she started her periods, and the more flat chested consorts have a hard time recieving a visit from him.
But still, the only way for their relationship to count as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was...
Wait a second...
Don't tell me...
"Lady Chrysalis was the Crown Princess!? And Lady Cadenza was the late Emperor's consort!?" I snapped aloud "yikes! That's mega levels of gross!"
"I agree" I looked back to see Lady Celestia sighing "the late Emperor was not a very... respectable man, but he chose to only attempt to bare a child with Lady Cadenza when she reached her period, and luckily he died before he could do so"
Luckily was an understatement, it was a goddamn miracle that he died.
"Could you put Princess Twilight back in her basket?"
"Oh? Sure"
I held the small infant in my hand, her violet hair hair that was dotted with streaks of pink as held up with a small cotton hair band. All she ever seemd to do was giggle and smile, which was good because she was most definately a pleasure to see on a day to day basis. I placed her gently in her cot and lifted it up, carefully carrying it. As I approached AJ, who wondered about the baby's health, I felt someone walk past me rather harshly.
She had soft tanned skin with long pink hair that was highlighted with streaks of yellow and purples, all tied together with soft violet gems and... amber? I looked down at her odd choice of colors, she wore and orange dress with white and yellow hues and trimming, she wore amber earings that shone brightly under the light and her makeup was to resemble that of a sunset. It was obvious to anyone that she was wearing Lady Celestia's colors, and her angry huff as we stared at her only made that sentiment all the more solidified.
"That's the Virgin Amore consort, Lady Cadenza?" I said to AJ.
"Yup, but don't ask me why she's dressed as a clown, I have no idea" she shrugged before walking off.
Over my months of working here, I had managed to figure out what the four main consort's colors and symbols were. It didn't take genious to know that Lady Celestia and Lady Luna were both the sun and the moon, from both their colors and their symbols. I also soon learned that the Ever Changing Hive consorts colors were dark green and turqoise, though I didn't learn her symbol, and the Virgin Amore consort's symbol was love, and according to Rarity her and her consorts are usually seen wearing whites, blues and loads of pinks.
So why she was dressed like that I still don't know.
I slowly sent up Princess Twilight back to Empress Platinum, who gently took her on hand "are you Rainbow Dash by any chance?" The elegant queen spoke softly.
Shit.
"Yes indeed I am your majesty" I spoke with a bow.
She smiled, honestly her beauty made me feel heavily intimidated "my son told me that apparently you had saved consort Luna from dying, is that so?"
"Yes your majesty" I nodded.
The Empress placed Princess Twilight beside her seat "bring out your hands" she said gently, beaming as I did so, she took and item from her lap and placed it in my lap "a token of my gratitude" she smiled before picking up the baby again "you may leave now, as Celestia's attendant, I can only assume you are rather busy"
I nodded furiously before scampering off, when I opened my hands, there was another bracelet, this time it was silver and dotted with purple orbs.
What was with these bracelts?
Author's Note
This is probably going to be a rather long chapter, as it is a mix of two different story plots from the manga. Like I said in the description, I don't want this story to be a complete copy and paste so there's gonna be a few plots that are merged (like this chapter) and a few that'll be ignored/replaced (I'm changing the "Mao goes home" arc to something else. So I wanted to get this out of the way before doing so.
Anyway, enjoy reading!
P.S: Chrysalis is hella OOC but I had to or it wouldn't work djsjdjdjdj
For the Love of a Lady
"Here m'lady, have this token!"
Standing before me was a man, and this man was very tall. He had dark skin and short blur hair with white streaks that was shaved off by the sides, allowing him to sport a mohawk kind of look. He stared down at me with his bright yellow eyes, which only made his seemingly towering height all the more intimidating, but what I had failed to notice at the time was that he wore his belt up and was standing on his toes to appear taller, that didn't stop him from being naturally tall though. I knew he was a soldier from his rather formal dressing and the amount of war trophies around his hips, talk about a not so subtle flex.
The man handed me another bracelet, this one was a simply gold that was surrounded with silver rings. "My name's Thunderlane, and I thought it would only be nice if I gave you this!" He chirped rather optimistically to me. "Anyway, I'll see you later!" He smiled before walking off.
At this point, I had just assumed the bracelets were a "well done for actually attending the gala!" type thing as I couldn't make heads or tails of it.
"Oh... it's rather plain for a gala bracelet..." Rarity sighed, looking it over "the gold doesn't even look close to being authentic- huh?"
As we all looked ahead of us, Lady Luna along with her attendants approached us. Upon seeing me, her attendants immediatly put on a face of distaste and unhappiness, however the consort seemed to be either oblivious or unfazed "Rainbow Dash, it has been quite a long while since I have last seen you..." she said, trailing off her sentence as she looked me up and down
I bowed "why yes your grace it has been quite a while" I quietly responded. We stayed in a slightly awkward silence for a bit before she quickly walked up to me and rubbed along my face, I froze, not exactly knowing what to do as she continued to touch of my cheeks and the bridge of my nose. After a few seconds of this she let go and giggled "I was only checking something, well then, have a good gala and a very good night girls" she spoke again before turning around and walking.
As I stood there, stunned, I could hear a few attendants running up to Lady Luna and panicking:
"Lady! I suggest you wash your hands after that!"
"Yeah, who knows what kinda diseases she has on her!"
"Lady! With all due respect, why would you do that!?"
I instead stood there, heavily caught off guard by what had just seen this.
AJ chuckled "man, imagine if Lady Celestia saw that?"
Although I had at first requested of Starlight to be the food tester for today, she was too busy looking after Princess Twilight and couldn't, which was a bit annoying because as much as I love the job I just wasn't in the mood to have everyone stare at me as I tested for poison. It wasn't too bad, my seat got me an even better view of the place, to the west were the army dudes and stuff, and to the right were the gay monks plus Spitfire. Actually, Spitfire wasn't sitting with Soarin nor the other gay monks, I saw her sitting in the middle of the army dudes, looking as tired and done with everyone's shit as ever. It was funny, for one of the very few if not only female Eunuchs, she didn't seem at all out of place sitting with the guys from the military, if not she looked somewhat more intimidating going by the heavy silence and somewhat angry vibes she always seemed to carry around with her. I also saw that Thunderlane dude from earlier, sitting at the end, it was probably because he was the youngest.
I looked around and realized that Soarin was nowhere to be seen, I couldn't figure out why, maybe he got bored and left? Before I could ponder some more, Starlight came and poured me a cup of cider, which signalled the beginning of the banquet. I did my usual thing, I checked for any cloudiness from magic which was easy because they had used a silver cup, I checked for any traces of magical particles, I even smelt it, nothing seemed off. Then I had to swallow it, and just before could rinse I realized that my prediction was correct, everyone's eyes were on me.
I somehow managed to brush it off, and instead began thinking of how someone would want to poison someone at a banquet. I mean, personally I think fast acting poison would make more sense because why risk getting poisoned yourself when you can just kill 'em instantly? It better be fast acting if the food is poisoned, it would feel amazing to have that gurgling feeling in your stomach... that tingly feeling you get on the back of your tongue when you puke... or better yet, the adrenaline spike you get when you really need to vomit it out quickly... God it's been quite a while since I've been poisoned now that I think about it- huh?
Starlight had indirectly slapped me on the back "stop gushing! You're making us look bad!" She hissed quietly as she took away the cup.
"Ah shit, my bad Starry" I shrugged, watching as she placed a bowl of food on the table. The food consisted of a chocolate souffle that I could see had soft vanilla cream oozing out of it that had many, MANY nuts in it, it was surrounded by strawberries that were sliced in half and had white chocolate shavings sprinkled atop. It looked fucking delicious I was kinda sad I had to give it up honestly because I really would have eaten the whole thing if I could.
I ended up looking to my side, and noticed the young Lady Cadenza shivering as she stared at the souffle, hers didn't seem to have nuts in it, but it had pineapple. I paused, I knew that Lady Cadenza liked having nuts in her desserts, as I saw it on written requests list and the kitchen, whilst Lady Celestia had requested pineapples.
Did they mess up the meals?
I watched as the girl gently put the pineapples into her mouth, albeit very hesitantly. I just assumed that maybe she didn't like them, but had to eat them because the Emperor was there. I managed to get a glimpse at the attendant food taster sitting behind her, who wore this grin... her grin was very disturbing to say the least.
Finally, all I had to do next was test the souffle. I did my usual checks, looking for clouds (this time from the pouring cream), checking particles, testing the scent yadda yadda yadda. However, it wasn't until I took a bite of the souffle did I get a punch that I had been waiting for so long to finally return to me, I felt a burning and scratching sensation echo through my body as if I had been shot with a bullet, the orgasmic pleasure of my insides being set ablaze and my throat closing was too much for me to handle, the rush of desperation that ran through my brain that begged me to puke and get it out.
It all felt too good.
I smiled, gently whiping my face as everyone stared, many didn't care as they assumed it was safe, due to my absolute euphoria. I simply looked into the crowd and said:
"The souffle is poisoned"
After I had announced the poison, I rushed away out of the door to find a place to puke, Starlight quickly ran to me in a panic, I brushed her off, quickly running to the nearest river I could find and vomited heavily into it. Once I had done, I went to wash my mouth in the well that was close by. I sat back, relishing in the totally awesome thing that I had just happened. Not only did I get to relive those sick ass sensations from back when I worked as a herbalist, but I indirectly proved to everyone that I could take poison! That should be like... uh... forty awesome points!
"Well, aren't you one happy little food taster?"
I looked back and saw Soarin, quickly I waved "Yo Soars, how are you doin' dude?" I laughed.
Soarin just glared, I didn't notice his stern and somewhat peeved facial expression "you're awfully... exciteable today" he quietly said. It had been so long since I last had legitimate hard hitting poison that I couldn't help but be a bit giddy, I realized that no food taster should be so gleeful whilst ingesting poison so I left the Gala as quickly as I could, but now that I think about it, as an attendat I really shouldn't be acting that way so of course Soarin's gonna throw a hissy fit about it.
Out of nowhere, the Eunuch grabbed my hand and began stomping somewhere "what the hell are you doing!?"
Soarin simply looked ahead "laughing and smiling after getting poisoned is a very serious sign that there could be something wrong, so I'm going to take you to the infirmary"
I spluttered "wha-!? Dude, I AM my own infirmary, I can look after myself" I then sighed as he continued walking "look, I puked it into that river so it's all cool, I don't have any poison in me no more" I wish I didn't have to though, if I had kept it swallowed then the feeling of pure and cold numbness would have spread all over my body, I could only imagine how thrilling it would be to have to get rid poison from in me whilst numb? It'd be like, a cooler and more dangerous version of The Legends of Daring Do .
"Soarin?"
"What?"
"Could I please bring the rest of the souffle home with me?"
"You're an absolute idiot"
"Eh, I prefer the term 'adventerous' really"
Soarin sighed "your overly happy persona made someone doubt that it was poisoned and they ended up eating the whole thing!"
I snickered "who's the idiot?"
Soarin glared "some cook dude, he ended up going completely numb and every one is freaking out"
I perked, rummaging through my dress slit before bringing out a bag "oh! I made this vomiting drug yesterday, it's meant to make ya stomach prolapse, it'll hurt like a bitch but I added some zap apple to the ingredients so it tastes pretty good! So he can use this!" I proudly gleamed.
Soarin snatched the bag, not sharing my enthusiasm "I honestly believe you're more dangerous than poison, besides, we already have a medic who's fixing everything" as he took my HARD WORK away from me, I looked and saw that he had a new bracelet on, probably replacing the one he gave me, plus his clothes looked ruffled... could it be....
He wasn't at the banquet because he was doing something indecent!? I knew he was just as bisexual as the other monks! Before I could continue speculating, something clicked in my head "Soarin?"
"Yeah?"
"I'd like to have a talk with Lady Cadenza"
The three of us, which was me, Soarin and Spitfire, stood in a room in front of Lady Cadenza and her attendant. Soarin was back to being his annoyingly charming self, and I had to stop myself from cringing everytime Lady Cadenza practically swooned in his presence "again my Lady I am so very sorry you had to be dragged here so suddenly"
Lady Cadenza waved "oh, not it is most definately my pleasure to be summoned here by you Soarin~" the young girl giggled.
As Soarin thanked her, I looked and see that her attendant rolling her eyes and seemingly scowling at her behavior "as sweet as the sentiment is your grace, it was actually this attendant who wanted to see you"
As the fourteen year old looked at me, her face went from a blushing smile to an annoyed frown "oh... I see..." she simply sighed, scratching her arm "may I ask why you wanted to see me?"
I watched as her attendant chuckled at her realization, but I didn't care. I watched as she scratched her arm and quickly lifted the arm if her gaudy gown to show off her sore rash "as I had predicted, you got a rash... you're not able to eat pineapples, are you Lady Cadenza?"
Spitfire raised a brow "what do you mean?"
"Well, there's certain foods that certain people can't eat, kinda like eggs, nuts, or in Lady Cadenza's case, pineapples, for example I can't eat tomatoes"
Spitfire visibly and audibly guffawed "wait, out of everything you have eaten and continue to eat, including poison , the one thing that you can't stomach is TOMATOES!?"
I frowned "hey, don't question my bodily functions! Jeesh... anyway, believe me when I say I really tried to build a tolerance to it, but I couldn't, my throat always contracted and I always got huge rashes even with small bites, and it took ages for my body to fully recover" I then looked over at the two ladies, my eyes shifting towards the seemingly non caring attendant "that's a way to tell if you can't eat a food, anyway Lady Cadenza, is your stomach alright? You don't feel any pains or nausea do you?"
She shook her head.
"Should I give you any form of puking remedy or laxative?"
She shook her head even more.
"Okay then, please sit down and listen to the rest of what I have to say" when she and the attendant sat down, I began speaking again "the food was very obviously prepared by the harem, Lady Celestia is not picky and is willing to eat the same food as the Emperor, however, I noticed that Lady Celestia had nuts and Lady Cadenza had pineapples, which was odd as it's Lady Cadenza that likes nuts and Lady Celestia that likes pineapples, therefore my theory is somebody purposely mixed up the meals"
As everyone went silent, more so than before, I continued "Lady Cadenza, you can eat nuts, right?"
She nodded "y-yes, I can eat nuts..."
"However, you aren't able to eat pineapples are you?"
Lady Cadenza nodded again, however this time her attendant looked visibly shaken by her response, I continued talking, my tone noticably darkening as time went on "this only something someone who cannot eat certain foods will understand, but it's not just 'being a picky eater', although luckily it only ended in a rash this time, it can cause many things such as heart failure, permanent internal swelling, difficulty breathing... to put it simply, if you were to be fed that willingly, it would be the equivalent to being served hard hitting poison , now I understand that as you were right in front of the Emperor it would have been very difficult to speak up, but eating it was extremely dangerous"
"Is there anything else you can't eat?"
"W-Well, there's honey and mushrooms..."
I looked over at the attendant and noticed that she was the smirking one "you're her food taster, correct?"
"Y-Yes" the red headed earth type said.
"What's your name?"
"Roseluck m-ma'am" she quietly responded.
"Why did you feed her the pineapple snack, knowing fully well she dislikes it?"
Roseluck stared at me for a bit before shakily sighing "I... believed she was being too picky, so I switched the plates, I had no idea she physically couldn't eat it..."
I groaned internally "well, luckily not only did you manage to save Lady Cadenza's life this time, but she got out with only a rash, if you hadn't have switched the plates, Lady Cadenza would have been poisoned" I turned around to walk somewhere "however, her eating the pineapple was still dangerous and still could have killed her, so next time either make her vomit it out instantly or just don't feed it to her, got it?"
"Yes ma'am" Roseluck nodded, clearly shaken and embarrassed.
I walked over to a desk, bringing out a rolled up piece of paper that was wrapped with bands "I summarized all of the needed precautions to take on this here sheet, it's not exactly difficult, but if you forget not only do I think Lady Cadenza won't live to see another day, but you'll be held responsible for it" I handed her the sheet and looked her in her eyes, and without realizing it, my voice had echoed the same level of harshness as it did all those months ago at Lady Luna's palace "if you ever forget this, I don't even think the gods would be able to forgive your negligence"
Roseluck took the sheet with shivering hands, before signalling for both her and Lady Cadenza to leave. The two soon walked out, shaking and shivering as they walked passed me. "Well done! Man I almost forgot you had it in you to scold people like that!" Soarin laughed as he attempted to wrap an arm around me, I quickly slapped his arm away though "that doesn't mean much coming from a sissy like you, also don't touch me"
Spitfire's once disturbed expression became a smirk, Soarin however frowned "you're the only girl to ever say that to me" she muttered.
"Well duh? Telling a guy straight up that he's a creeper is impolite!" I then turned around "anywho, I gotsa go and let the others and Lady Celestia know I'm okay, o see ya-"
"Wait" Soarin blurted. I sighed and stood still "why did you make sure that Roseluck was in the room too?"
I shrugged "eh, I dunno"
"Fine, if you wanna play stupid then at least answer me this, the poisoned meal was supposed to be for the Virgin Amore consort?"
I nodded "well, in the event that there was no poison in the other meal, that would be the only logical explanation"
A few days had passed since The Grand Galloping Gala, I hadn't done much as the other three attendants where very sure that I needed to rest and fully heal from the poisoning, although I was sure that I was fine. When I had finally gotten tired of sleeping all day, I woke myself up and went to get ready. I made sure to reapply my makeup, adding my freckles and eyebags before happily sighing, I felt somewhat naked without them.
"I for one am glad that you added them back, as pretty as you are without them, having everybody ask me who you are would have been so troublesome" Lady Celestia chuckled.
"Yeah, plus ya look more like Dashie now and less like... uh... Dashie's prissy twin sister" AJ snorted as she was sweeping the floor.
"Anyway, Spitfire's been here all morning and I'm not sure what to do about it, she didn't seem busy so I just had her weeding outside!" I couldn't help but stare at Lady Celestia for a bit, I was both surprised that she had her doing that and surprised that she just went for it. Although she is highly respected and considered a military figure, Spitfire was also very serious about her respect and devotion to those she works for, if she's willing to follow Soarin's goofy ass around of course she'd be willing to pull a few weeds for Lady Celestia. Funnily enough, similar to Soarin, Spitfire also had universal beauty. She was the type who had both men and women swooning, whilst with Soarin it was because no one could actually tell if he was a man or woman, with Spitfire it was because of her elegant appearance yet headstrong and cold personality. Kinda like the bad boy trope except not really.
"She most likely came for me your grace... may I borrow the living room for the time being?" I asked.
"Of course Rainbow! Starlight, could you please go and fetch Spitfire for me?" Lady Celestia gently asked.
Starlight, who was currently playing with Princess Twilight (who had actually learned to walk and taken her first steps during these passed few days), lifted up the toddler and given her to the consort. I couldn't help but notice the gleam in her eyes, maybe she was so devoted to Celestia that doing something for her made her that happy. I couldn't help myself but chuckle, Starlight, sort of like Rarity, was extremely beautiful and was definately good looking enough to be in the harem or at least married by now. However, whilst Rarity's temper and inability to take disrespect seemed to scare off and intimidate men, for Starlight it was her intelligence, many talents, skills, and her very strong magical abilities that seemed to intimidate men and stop them from courting her.
Wow, men are cowards.
Soon, Spitfire and I were in an empty room together "Soarin told me to bring you this"
I sat ahead of Spitfire, who placed the now stale souffle in front of me. I looked it over, before noticing that she was staring at me "what's up?" I cautiously said.
She sighed before rubbing her temples "please for the love of all things holy do not eat it"
I pouted "of course I won't! It's all stale and won't even be tasty, plus I bet the poison's aleady all gone..."
Spitfire blinked "the only thing stopping you... is the taste..."
As I poked into the souffle, I soon noticed something... off. I cut it in half with a knife that was lying around and saw many puffs of magical cloudsn not only that, but there were lingering particles of violet magic inside of the souffle. I poked the magic sparkles, wincing as they pricked me "a magic potion..."
"Huh?"
"Spitfire, this isn't a normal poison, this is a magic potion" I stood up "this wasn't traditionally made poison, it was magic"
Spitfire stood up as well, staring at me "are you saying that a magic type did this?"
"Yeah, a unicorn did this, a pureblood did"
Spitfire's eyes widenned "I remember something"
"What?"
"The one in charge of the cooking Lady Cadenza's was this chick... I forgot her name... but she had red hair that had like, purple streaks I think, I could also tell she was a magic type because her wrists had a natural purple wrapping"
I raised a brow at her "but how? Only attendants of a consort can cook their food, and Lady Cadenza has no magic type consorts, she only has cloud type consorts and earth type consorts..."
"I also remember this chick wore an outfit with loads of holes in it, it was also black and blueish" she added quickly.
"Magic type... holes... blueish... and Lady Cadenza has no magic types... this means-"
"An attendant of the Ever Changing Hive consort cooked Lady Cadenza's meal..."
...
"Spitfire?"
"Yeah?"
"Tell Soarin to alert Lady Chrysalis, I'll be making my way to the Ever Changing Hive Palace tomorrow"
Each palace is said to be colored by their master's spirit and symbol. For example, Lady Celestia's Solar Sun palace is filled with a sense of warmth, comfort and radiance. Lady Luna's Eclipse Moon Palace radiated a feeling of elegance and refinement, and as for Lady Chrysalis... her palace was very, odd but cozy. There were sculpted cocoons everywhere and many encased bugs and critters, the whole palace was colored in greens, blacks and murky blues. It wasn't filled with useless furniture, every single one had a use.
I was walking behind the head attendant, she had short red hair that had purple streaks, just as Spitfire had described. Her eyesight was a little wonky but she seemed very kind and was most definately very devoted to Lady Chysalis, her name was Moondancer and as far as she was concerned, I was only here to help for the end of year cleaning. Soarin had sent me to investigate, but knew that if anyone discovered why I was here it would cause a panic, and especially since Moondancer is currently a prime suspect for the attempted murder of Lady Cadenza.
"Moondancer, who is this? I don't think I've seen her before..."
Ahead of me stood the feared yet respected ex-crown princess herself. Lady Chrysalis seemed to exert the same creepy but cozy feel to her that the house did. She didn't wear makeup and didn't wear and overabundance of accessories. She wasn't drop dead gorgeous, nor was she all that cute and nor was she super voluptuous or curvy, but her masculine and strong beauty was what shone the most and gave her one of the most unconventionally beautiful faces I had ever seen. Another thing that shocked me was how dark skinned she was, being a few shades darker than me, it was a shock to me that someone who was very clearly not pureblooded managed to make it so high in the harem status wise. Sure, Lady Cadenza isn't pureblooded, but I'm pretty sure she's too young for the Emperor to care.
Knowing this, both her race, status and looks, in just a few seconds I found myself looking up to this complete stranger.
"Oh, this is Rainbow Dash, she was sent here to inspect the place and help with the end of year cleaning your grace" Moondancer bowed. A part of me refused to believe that Lady Chrysalis was thirty five, she looked so much younger, all she had to do was change outfits and she'd look exactly like a young Eunuch, she also had the same presence as Soarin... which sort of disturbed me.
I actually couldn't believe anyone in this castle would try to kill Lady Cadenza. Soon after the encounter, Moondancer led me somewhere to help her with work.
One thing I learned is that the attendants of the Ever Changing Hive consort were amazing, easily rivaling Lady Celestia's. Their adoration for Lady Chrysalis really showed in their work, Moondancer by far being the best. She was intelligent, kind, quick to both praise and scold people and knew how to handle pressure. Not only that, but she was also known to do work that was usually left for the lower servants to do; all due to her adoration and respect for Lady Chrysalis. She would have made an amazing wife if she wasn't in the inner palace. It was funny, even though she loves Lady Chrysalis, the things Moondancer has done for her far outweighed anything she had to do as a head attendant and head maid, her loyalty ran so deep that she didn't even want to marry.
My praises became a lot more morbid over time though, when someone is that loyal, that could very well be a motive for murder. Say Moondancer was the daughter of a high ranking official, if he really wanted his daughter to enter the palace as a consort, the most likely to be full on replaced would be Lady Chrysalis. However, say one of the other main consorts were to 'disappear' from their position, things would be different. Ignoring Lady Luna and Celestia, because Emperor Sombra just doesn't seem to like younger girls, she most likely hasn't 'paid Lady Cadenza a visit' yet. Even the lower classed consorts he visits are extremely curvy and voluptious, and as I've said before the more flat chested and less curvy consorts have a much harder time getting the Emperor to visit them.
In other words, although due to her undeniable beauty and already high status she would be near impossible to replace, if she were to die, her maids wouldn't care as they look down upon her because they believe she hasn't fulfilled her duty as a consort, which has and always will be to birth the Emperor a child. In a way it's actually a good thing, as although she's old enough to get married, she is much too young to have a child, her body wouldn't be able to handle it. Honestly, it just reminds me of how old Empress Platinum was when she had the Emperor and... just thinking of the late Emperor's love of younger girls makes me wanna hurl.
Haha, that rhymed.
Anyway, if someone were to kill a consort on behalf of Lady Chrysalis, it's not to weird to say that Lady Cadenza would be the most likely target. I was wiping the shelf and saw a whole bunch of containers "yo, what do I do once I'm done?"
An attendant looked at me and smiled "oh, all you gotta do is put them back in their place once you've finished!"
I opened the containers; looking at the odd color of them before asking "are these honey?"
"Yup! Moondancer comes from a family of bee-keepers!" Of course, so she was from a high familial status. Honey was already a luxery so having multiple different kinds had to mean she was very rich.
As I looked out of the window, I saw Lady Cadenza and... her food taster looking around the palace forest? Why are they there? Seeing her also reminded me that Lady Cadenza said she couldn't handle honey... hm...
I stretched, it had been a while since I had worked that hard, and because Moondancer kept praising me, it felt almost wrong to not continue working "great job Rainbow Dash, you are definately much more determined than Soarin made you out to be in that letter" Moondancer chuckled, coming up behind me "in fact, could you walk with me for a bit?" I nodded and followed her, it wasn't long until we arrived at Moondancer's room, it was pretty empty, kind of like Starlight's room. I looked to the side of me, and saw a pot of honey there too, but I could have sworn I saw a glint of-
"Sorry to keep you waiting, it gets very cold at night so I wanted to get you a blanket..." Moondancer smiled "here you go!"
"Oh, um, thank you very much! I really appreciate it...!" I quickly waved.
She soon held onto the door "goodnight!" She said before slamming it.
"And that's all I managed to get from the Ever Changing Hive Palace"
I stood in front of Soarin, I was a bit upset that I couldn't find any definative evidence that the Ever Changing Hive Palace actually did anything "is that so?"
I groaned "yeah, that's all" I don't know exactly what he expected I mean I'm still just an athlete turned doctor. I watched as he stirred a cup of fancy tea with honey and lemon "do you still find anything suspicious, if you need more clues we can send you back"
"Did Lady Celestia's Souffle have cream or honey?"
Soarin was taken by surprise but answered "well, from my examinations I believe it was indeed honey, why?"
I looked down "I saw a container full of honey in Moondancer's room and I saw many different sparks coming from it, I can't really figure out what color it was but I do remember the souffle was poisoned with a magical potion, and it turns out that what I had assumed was cream ended up being honey"
Soarin looked at me up and down before smirking "you get an... A for effort"
Bastard! He probably already investigated this and knew, cheeky twat, I outta-
Before I could mentally go off even more, he swiftly slid over the table and appraoched me with a pot of honey in hand and his fingers coated "I think you deserve a treat~"
I glared "go feed someone else, asshole"
"No need to be shy, it's just honey!"
"Fuck you!"
He approaching me as I walked back, this nasty perv! He really thought he could do anything just because he's hot!? Well, he's been like that since I met him but still! I ended up against a wall, with Soarin too close for comfort, I looked around for Spitfire to help and I saw the bitch looking out the window, purposely ignoring my struggles!
I am totally serving her puking remedies!
"Aw, come on Dashie, don't you like sweet things?" He said with an unnecessary sultriness to his voice.
"I like spicy food more" I hissed, hoping to get him off.
"But hey, one taste won't kill you!"
Shit, this wasn't going anywhere. If it wasn't for how he had me pinned I would have kicked him in the balls by now, well I doubt he has balls me to kick. If it was Poison Joke honey at least I could get a kick from it, after all, honey made from a poisonous flower is still poison.
Wait...
"Soarin, may I ask why you're harrassing my attendant?"
Soarin looked back to see Lady Celestia and Starlight, both looking rather peeved "y-your grace! I was just, uh..."
"When did I or Rainbow give you permission to do this?"
I didn't really listen to what happened next, but I saw Lady Celestia practically chase Soarin out of the room with Starlight following close behind. Spitfire then approached me, supressing a laugh like the shithead she is "could you please forgive him? It was just a prank taken a bit too far Dash"
But you didn't help! Is what I wanted to yell but instead I scoffed "next time, you gotta lick the honey!"
"L-Lick?" She grimaced.
"Anyway! I'd like to confirm something with you..."
"Yup, this is the Virgin Amore Palace, where Lady Cadenza lives"
Spitfire and I walked in and were escorted to Lady Cadenza's room, once she saw us, the tanned girl jumped up with excitement I hadn't seen from her before and smiled "Welcome!- wait, where's Soarin?"
That's why she was excited.
Spitfire and I bowed "I apologize for the sudden visit Lady Cadenza"
The consort scoffed "please, call me Cadence, Cadenza is such a prissy name, also you can drop the lady thing too, I'm younger than you two aren't I?" Spitfire stayed silent and I shrugged, I had nothing against being less formal with someone "anyway, what do two Solar Sun attendants want with me?"
Cadence was most definately a beautiful teenager and would definately grow to be a gorgeous woman, but she was still too childlike and immature to really live like a true consort. Also, she was dressed much less elegantly than when she was at the gala and more pampered and pretty, looking more like an adorable princess than a royal consort, and honestly it suited her much more. "I'd like to discuss a few things your grace"
Cadence looked at me, suddenly her eyes got wide "y-you're that girl from the garden party... w-what do you want?"
"Do you hate honey?"
She perked "how did you..."
"Your face shows it" I shrugged, recieving an admitedly adorable 'hmph!' from Cadence "I understand if you felt sick from eating it before you'd try avoiding it, is it like pineapples to you?"
Cadence shook her head "no, it's nothing like that, I don't remember since it happened when I was really young, but apparently I had almost died from eating honey, so my nursing mother and attendants banned me from eating it-"
"Hey! Who do you think you are, just bluntly talking to Lady Cadenza like that!? Have you no manners!? What do you want!?"
I groaned, more bitchy attendants. I was kinda sick of dealing with them "I was... sent here by Soarin himself, if you have a complaint, speak directly to him"
Luckily, the girls had skipped off giggling about how they'd talk to his royal sexiness Soarin, I couldn't wait to see him get all uncomfortable because they wanna get all touchy feely with him, payback is a bitch and she definately likes to bite.
"Anyway, one last question Cadence, are you by any chance acquainted the Ever Changing Hive head attendant, Moondancer?" I saw as she got visibly uncomfortable "could you tell us the full story?"
Seventeen years ago, before Emperor Sombra became the emperor and was just crown prince, he had a son with Lady Chrysalis. The late Emperor also had a child with another woman, who ended up being the now Emperor's brother. The baby boy, Thorax, had died before he reached his first birthday, and the current Emperor didn't get any other children until after the late Emperor had died. At the time, Lady Chrysalis was the only consort, and though nobody knows exactly why Emperor Sombra stayed with her for so long, many assume he may have fallen for her, this is only further strengthened by the fact that they grew up together.
As for how I know Moondancer? Well, not only was she looking after Thorax, but I always visited Miss Chrysalis back then. When the old Emperor was alive, I got really attached to her, and she did the same to me! It was weird, because although she was technically my daughter-in-law, she was more of a mother to me than anyone else, apparently Miss Chrysalis looked after me so the creepy old Emperor wouldn't visit me.
It was funny, I mean, I was taken from my family and became a consort really young, and I soon heard that Miss Chrysalis couldn't have anymore babies! That made me really sad, so I visited her more often so I could try and cheer her up! But one day I had to stop...
I wasn't happy.
Somehow I had already expected this, the herbs that grew outside in the inner palace gardens were not natural, they were planted. I know this because they were the ones my father and I often use, which only grow in the Everfree forest, and it just so happens that a certain ex-Eunuch family member of mine I know who plants these types of herbs who used to work here. I looked at the documents that Spitfire had managed to find for me in anger, what did he do? Why did he get his shoulder markings scraped out? Why did they take away his ability to fly?
Why was my father punished for the baby's death?
......
That's it! I had figured it out!
Now all I needed to do was confront Moondancer.
"A message from consort Celestia? What a shame, Lady Chrysalis is out at a social gathering currently-"
I opened the case in my hand and showed it at the peppy Moondancer, her mood had immediately vanished. She stared emptily at the case, almost as if she was both thinking and not thinking at the same time "I want to have a talk with you, Moondancer"
I walked in and saw the room was already packed, as if she wanted to leave. I sat down at the table and watched as she cut up some bread and poured honey all over it, along with making two cups of tea. She soon placed them on the table and smiled again, sitting down "so, what are you up to today? End of year cleaning is practically finished"
I took a sip of the tea "when are you planning in leaving the Ever Changing Hive Palace?"
Moondancer stared at me before laughing a hollow laugh "you're pretty intuitive"
Everything was packed because of the simple fact that Lady Chrysalis was being replaced with a new consort. She didn't have a very strong backing as to why she should keep her position, and only managed to really stay because her and the Emperor grew up together, if her son were still alive however were still alive that would be different, but going by not only what happened to her and her masculine disposition...
She would quicker count as a female Eunuch than Spitfire.
No, that was all speculation, I need confirmation "Lady Chrysalis is no longer able to have children, right?" The inner palace has no use for a consort who can't bare children, not even Lady Chrysalis, a respected consort that Emperor Sombra clearly has a lot of love for isn't exempt from this rule. "Did something happen during her labor"
Moondancer gave me a look, it wasn't exactly a glare, but it was a look "that isn't your business"
I looked her into her eyes "yes it is, for my foster father was punished for it"
In a split second, Moondancer had slammed her hands on the table. I simply watched her, I wanted to glare, I wanted to yell at her to tell me what she did to get my innocent father's wing marking removed, but I couldn't. Instead I then began speaking "Lady Chrysalis had gone into labor at around the same time as Empress Platinum had, and since my father was the only doctor, they had to count which baby was more important, and they claimed Empress Platinum's one as. Thus, Lady Chrysalis was most likely forced to have her labor postponed, it had miraculously not killed her, but it did destroy her womb, she managed to somehow have a safe and healthy baby who sadly died later on" I took in a breath, my mood involuntarily getting worse "do you feel responsible for it? Since Lady Chrysalis became too sick to take care of baby Thorax, it was you who looked after him, right? "
Moondancer looked me up and down, her expression still as blank and empty as before "you sure know a lot for the daughter of a sinch who couldn't even save Chrysalis' baby"
I smirked "maybe so, maybe so..."
An apothecary can't just wipe their hands clean of medical mistakes, that's why my dad is okay with being called a sinch, he thinks it's fair.
It's just who he is, and it made me even angrier.
"It was reported that he died from the poisonous powder that baby Tantabus just recently died from, but that's not true is it Moondancer?" I held to open "the man you so proudly called a sinch banned that powder ages ago, knowing it was poisonous, and you're smart enough to not just disobey him, no, the real reason baby Thorax died was because of this" I held the stem of the flower in the case that was next to a flask, the flower was a periwinkle blue with blue stems sticking out of it, there was also small puffs coming out "this is poison joke, similar to any other venomous flower, making honey out of it would be like making poison"
"I'm not stupid, I know that" she quickly responded, looking down at the table.
I nodded "of course you are, you come from a family of bee-keepers" I then sat down "what you didn't know was that although the food taster claimed the honey to be safe fo the baby, it still had traces of poison in it, the most it would have done to an adult was make them feel funny, but to baby? That level of poison is lethal"
And thus, Lady Chrysalis' son ceased to breathe, and the cause of death was unknown. Due to the incident and him being unable to help Lady Chrysalis' during her labor, Strike Kicker, my foster father and the doctor at the time had his wing markings scratched off of him, rendering him unable to fly anymore and was banished from the inner palace.
I continued to speak "you stopped at nothing to make sure Lady Chrysalis never found out you killed her child, hence why you wanted to kill Lady Cadenza" I looked into her eyes "one day, she told you that she didn't like honey because she had some that made it hard to breathe and almost killed her when she was little, and you were so afraid that Lady Chrysalis might realize the parallels of Candence' and Thorax' situations that she'd discover the truth, that you kept giving her excuses as to why she couldn't visit Lady Chrysalis until you eventually banned her all together" I chuckled "you must have felt so safe, until you saw the one girl you thought was gone forever at the palace, not only as a high ranking consort but with enough power to drive off Lady Chrysalis, but like a child who had just found their missing mother, she ran to hug her"
Moondancer glared at me, her breathing became jagged and her eyes had gotten wider "that's why you thought of making her vanish by mixing poison joke honey with a choking potion of yours to kill her, luckily one of the attendants switched the meals, so she lived"
"What do you want from me?" She hoarsly asked, her hand shakily moving on top of the large cleaver she used to cut the bread "anything is fine, just take it and go"
I furrowed my brows at her "killing me would do nothing, and you yourself know that, the truth was going to be uncovered sooner or later" I hissed "if not by my innocent father, then by someone who could simply out two and two together"
Moondancer began shaking violently, her heavy breaths becoming audible pants, she gripped the sides of the table as her chest pounded up and down "do you have someone you care about dearly?" her question caught me off guard, I couldn't even answer "all my life all I had been taught to do was study and work, study and work, my parents even made me become a stupid maid just to do this, but when I had met Lady Chrysalis, I was shocked, she was so... so... strong and respectable, she could talk to Emperor Sombra casually as if they were both brothers" I watched as she gripped her chest "I promised to serve her for the rest of my days, and that I would never work for anyone else, but-" Moondancer suddenly fell onto her knees, her eyes wet with flowing tears as she began banging on the ground with her fists.
"I TOOK HIM AWAY FROM HER RAINBOW DASH! The baby she loved so much, the child she held as if he were worth more than all the gold in the world! I KILLED HIM! With these very hands of mine, I TOOK AWAY THE ONE THING SHE LOVED THE MOST!" she soon stopped and put her hands around her arms, still weeping as she tried to continue "but even then, all she said was...."
Lady Chrysalis sat in front of her group of attendants, her eyes hollow and red with tears her eye bags heavy "I know you're all worried, but please do not be, my... my baby was like a butterly, his life was so short, yet so beautiful... he didn't live long, but he brought joy onto everyone who care for him... he didn't have a chance to go through his metamorphosis... but I know he's up there somewhere, flying amongst the many other butterflies that had passed after their short time... so let's not weep for baby Thorax, but instead remember and cherish all of the precious moments we had with him..."
Moondancer cried harder "Every... single night she weeped and wailed for her baby, the one I KILLED, yet she... all she did was..." it wasn't long before she simply broke down, falling into a mess of tears and coughs. I hadn't forgiven her for what she had brought upon my father, but most of my anger had disappeared, being replaced with pity. This had been on her mind, eating her alive for seventeen years, the same woman who had devoted her whole being to Lady Chrysalis. I couldn't say I felt the same way, as I never had to go through anything like that, and as much as I wanted to feel for her, I couldn't.
Everything was to be reported to Spitfire, I couldn't lie as I'd be caught, even if she had killed me with that cleaver, the truth would have been revealed, and no matter what she can't not get the death penalty, she was smart enough to know that "I have a proposal, it's not a very nice one, since it basically condemns you to death, the inevitable consequence cannot be changed, but if you're okay withh this, please hear me out..."
"Moondancer turned herself in, do you happen to have anything to do with this?"
Soarin sat in his usual seat and looked over a scroll he had been sent I shrugged "nah, I have absolutely nothing to do with it" I sighed.
Soarin raised a brow, obviously not believing me "well then, why did you get Spitfire to get all those old documents about the prince's death?"
I lowered my head "I believed I was onto something, but was led in circles"
Soarin exhaled heavily "it says here that Moondancer's motive was to make sure Lady Chrysalis kept her rank as a high class consort"
"Really? Then I was far off" I semi lied. My proposal to Moondancer was to turn in one motive and claim responsibility for the baby's death, as it would have saved everyone a lot more time and not resulted in a needless investigation. "Speaking of which, Lady Chrysalis stepping down from being a high ranks consort didn't have anything to do with Moony did it?"
Soarin shook his head "nah, it's completely unrelated, but I heard she's being moved to a palace up north though, all by wish of the Emperor"
"I see" he must really love her then...
I saw a bunch of poison joke flowers and plucked one "oh, Starlight placed those there because they're blooming off season" I sucked from the plucked part of the plant and hummed. Soarin raised a brow but copies me "wow, this is really sweet!"
"It's poisonous"
I chuckled as he coughed and began attempting to spit it out "calm down, you're an adult so it won't kill you"
Moondancer's execution was quick and only took half a day, so I could finally call an end to this whole Gala fiasco. I was currently sitting on the wall outside, I was tired but it was really pretty out, I kind of wish I had taken some cider with me because it just felt like the perfect moment to be drinking- huh? Someone else was here?
"I recognize that rainbow hair anywhere, you're that maid that recently helped out aren't you?"
I looked back and saw Lady Chrysalis behind me, I quickly bowed and scrambled "I'll take my leave your grace-"
She chuckled "that won't be necessary, and as much as I love being called Lady Chrysalis I'm leaving tomorrow, so just call me Chrysalis..."
I snickered "Rainbow Dash"
She smiled "how fitting"
She sat beside me and soon brought a flask and a cup "want some cider?" She casually asked. I soon found myself drinking with the soon to be ex-consort, she was so naturally charming and casual yet still mainstaining her regalness that it caught me off guard, she honestly reminded me of someone...
"I'm like a man, aren't I?" She suddenly asked, after she wiped lingering cider off of her face.
"Well... when you act like that...."
Instead if being offended, she laughed aloud "you're an honest one, I like that" she said, looking up. I knew she was going to spill her feelings, but I didn't stop her, I let her speak "Sombra and I have always been friends, but of course there was point in time where we had to be more than friends, I was supposed to set an example before he became the Emperor, that's why, even after I lost my dear Thorax, him and I just went back to being friends, we grew up together" she chuckled "we were breastfed by the same wet nurse... honestly, I wonder why I was chosen as a consort... I was simply chosen due to my connections to the Emperor, honestly I should have given up my role years ago, yet why... did I keep going..."
It was odd hearing Chrysalis talk in such a somber manner, even though she'd be leaving tomorrow. As a dark skinned cloud type, I can only imagine what she had to go through to get her position not only as a consort but as a friend of the Emperor, only to have it stripped away from her...
Actually, I understand why she's so upset. However, the Emperor's moving her to another palace, so that's how I know he must still carry a lot of love and affection of Chrysalis, it was sweet really.
Chrysalis gently poured the rest of her cider into the river "everyone's a fool... but it makes life interesting... so I'm cool with it"
After we shared one last laugh, she decided to get down from the wall and leave. I stayed for a bit, admiring the stars some more before soon getting down myself.
"Dashie!? What are you doing up there!?"
The sudden yelling scared me and made me lose my balance, and before you ask why I didn't just fly it's because I forgot I could, jeez.
I ended up landing on someone "my bad" he said...
Wait...
"Soarin? What are you doing here?" I asked with a groan.
"I should really be asking you that" he muttered before he... held onto me tighter? It felt a bit awkward really, he was doing that one thing... what was it called... oh yeah! He was hugging me.
"Are you... good Soarin? You aren't high or drunk or anything?"
Soarin shook his head "nah, but can I just... do this for a bit? Like, I promise to get off..."
As much as I wanted to yell and kick and scream, I was too tired and a bit drizzled from the cider, so I just shrugged "fine, but if anyone sees us you're dead"
"Hmkay...."
The consort headpiece that served as proof was to be given to the new Ever Changing Hive consort soon, Lady Chrysalis looked prideful, she didn't look as if she was chased away from the castle, she looked as if she was a proud worker who had decided she had done her duty. Now that I saw them standing beside each other, I realized that the person she reminded me of was Soarin, they had the same kind of universal beauty.
Wild.
"Wait, Miss Chrysalis!"
I was snapped out of my thoughts when I saw Cadence running up towards the leaving woman, her attendants close behind (albeit rather annoyed). I watched as the other three stopped and Roseluck followed. I didn't seemd to notice this, but Roseluck had become a lot more protective of Cadence, and pretty much everywhere Cadence went she went, it made me smile. Although the other attendants were still bitchy as hell, at least Roseluck had come around and actually began caring about Cadence.
Cadence ended up tripping as she approached her, her three attendants began laughing as Roseluck tried to catch up and help. Chrysalis looked back, soon kneeling down beside her, and at that moment the masculine consort wore one of the most motherly faces I had seen in a while.
