Crystal Place
Royal chambers
Greema pov

When the doors to the room were opened a pony in armor walked in. Upon seeing me his face seemed to light up with happiness and some relief.

"Ah, it's good to see you awake and out of bed your Majesty" He said happily.

I simply raised an eyebrow "Your Majesty" I asked him.

"Oh, well you see-" he started before I interrupted him.

"Stop" I said, then sighed. "I'll deal with that later after you tell me how long I slept and where I can get something to eat, I'm starving." I told him.

He perked up at that and started walking out of the room." Please follow me, your Majesty."

As we walked he spoke to me "You have been asleep for two days your Majesty, the healers said you were simply sleeping but we were starting to get worried, thankfully you're okay." We were nearing an intersection when he stopped and turned to me.

"Before we continue, would you like to eat in one of the dining rooms or would you prefer eating in the gardens." He asked.

I thought for a moment before telling him I wanted some fresh air, he nodded then motioned to follow him. "This way your Majesty." He said.

As I followed him I decided to ask him some questions.

"Tell me your name soldier" I told him.

"My name is Night Quartz your Majesty" he looked ecstatic that I asked his name.

"So Night Quartz, what can you tell me about the empire." I asked him, after all, I doubt limited information from a tv show was going to cut it here.

"Of course" he exclaimed enthusiastically "what would you like to know about."

I hummed "well, how about you start with how the empire was founded." I had always been curious about how the empire came to be.

"Very well your Majesty, history isn't my strongest subject but I will tell you what I know" as we turned a corner we walked past a guard who bowed to me, I simply nodded to him as Night Quartz started speaking.

"While the exact date was never recorded we do know that it was somewhere around two thousand years, a time when the empire wasn't known as such and was simply a conglomerate of tribes who worked together to survive in the frozen north." As we walked we passed more guards and servants who all bowed to me as well.

Once again I simply nodded and listened as Night Quartz continued speaking.

"Back then the tribes had been in the north for little more than a century but suddenly the snow and cold started getting worse and worse and with it, even the plants that grew in the cold couldn't survive anymore and all the creatures that they used to hunt either died or left, leaving only predators that couldn't be fought safely." As he talked I looked around and saw that most of the paintings we passed were filled with images depicting ponies either fighting monsters or each other.

I expected more friendly or peaceful paintings from an empire that was protected by a love powered crystal.

Wich was currently hanging from my neck.....Yeah, I should probably give it a look when I have the time.

Night Quartz's voice breaks me out of my thoughts.

"....and so Amethyst Rose decided to embark on a journey to Equestria and find the great sorceress Gusty the Great." He said.

'I really hope I didn't miss anything important.'I thought.

"Overcoming many dangers, either from mother nature or other ponies, she finally reached Equestria, and soon after she would find Gusty." I just listened to him as I didn't want to miss anything else.

"Once she reached Gusty she begged her for the knowledge to help her people." He paused as we turned a corner then continued.

"Gusty, while impressed by the fact that a simple earth pony had come all the way from the end of the world just to get her people help, knew that since she wasn't a unicorn she wouldn't be able to learn any of her magic." He said.

I just nodded and curiously asked "Then what did she learn from her."

"Gusty, still wanting to grant Amethyst her help, decided to teach her a magical discipline none of her apprentices were able to learn, and so she started teaching Amethyst about the art of enchanting." He stopped as we reached a set of double doors with two guards who opened them and bowed.

What was waiting for us on the other side was a garden the size of a soccer field filled with trees and many flower beds of different kinds, I could see roses, tulips, some flowers that I recognized but couldn't remember the name of and even some which I'm pretty sure don't exist in earth. There were also some gazebos of different sizes here and there.

Night Quartz led me to one of the smaller ones and I saw a simple round table and four chairs. When we got closer I noticed that the chairs didn't really have legs but simply some small stubs, besides that they had cushioned seats and a tall backrest.

Once I sat down Night Quartz spoke.
"What would you like me to ask the cooks to prepare for you, your Majesty." he asked me.

"Do you have coffee here?" I asked him.

"Yes, would you like it black." He responded.

"No, put some milk in it oh and just two spoonfuls of sugar." He nodded then asked again.

"Would you like eggs and meat, toast, or something else." I raised an eyebrow at the fact that hey had meat but remembered he mentioned they hunted.

I thought for a moment before deciding against a heavy breakfast.

"I'll take the toast" I told him. Seeing him nod and turn around I thought of something and stopped him.

"Oh and get me a book about the history of the empire and it's laws," I told him.

He simply nodded " I'll have somepony fetch them for you." Then he bowed one final time before leaving.

I spent some time just appreciating the scenery before deciding to focus on the bell.

Looking at the Crystal Bell it looks like it's completely made from, well, crystals.

Aside from its material, there isn't much of a difference with other bells beside the heart-shaped clapper. Deciding to see what it can do I utilize my most advanced technique.

I poke it.

As expected, there isn't any reaction besides the little ting bells of this size tend to do.

While nodding at my genius deduction I hear the sound of walking and look in its direction finally noticing the stallion in a shirt and a vest carrying a serving tray filled with what is most likely my breakfast.

When he reaches the table I ignore the fact that he is somehow walking on three legs and simply watch as he places the contents of the tray in the table.

"Your breakfast as ordered your Majesty." He says.

Looking at my breakfast I give a hum of appreciation as I see a mug of coffee, six slices of toast along with two small cups of butter and jelly with accompanying butter knife, and on the side is a slice of what looks like Apple pie.

I questioned him about the last one and he answered. "One of the cooks had baked a pie just this morning and thought you may enjoy a slice" I thanked him and he bowed before turning around and leaving.

Well, time to dig in.

30 minutes later.

I hummed to myself as I watered down the last piece of pie with the final sip of coffee.

'This is nice.' I thought to myself as I sighed contentedly with my eyes closed.

*chirp**chirp*

I opened my eyes at the sound and noticed the small bluebird perched on the gazebo's railing.

I raised an eyebrow at him and spoke "excuse me?" I asked.

It somehow gave me an annoyed expression before chirping at me.

I frowned and responded to his rude words "hey now, no need to be rude, besides I'm a lot bigger than you, of course I need more foo-" I was interrupted by more chirping and a rude wing gesture.

My eyebrows were threatening me with segregation from my face before I closed my eyes and gave an exasperated sigh.

"I'm not having a discussion this early in the morning, least of all with a bird." I said before picking up the leftover crumbs with my magic, getting up and walking over to it.

Reaching the railing I lay the crumbs in a pile next to the bird "there, are you happy now?"

Instead of answering it turned away from me and started pecking at the pile. I just rolled my eyes and turned around while muttering "I hope a hawk eats you."

I was back on my seat when the realization hit me. I just blinked slowly and asked myself "d-did I just have a conversation with a bird?"

I was about to speak to the bird again when I heard a panting voice call out to me.

"Your Majesty" I turned and saw a mare with glasses and a bag on her side trotting towards me. Once she reached the table she took a moment to catch her breath before bowing and speaking.

"I'm really really sorry for the delay your Majesty, it's just, the head librarian was on break and she's the only one who's memorized were every book is so it took me a lot of time to find it and again I'm so sorry for this so plea-" she stopped as I raised a single hoof.

"It's no trouble, besides, I just finished my breakfast so you weren't that late, it's not like I expected to receive them within the minute I asked for." I calmly said.

She seemed to relax at that before perking up and reaching for the bag at her side "ah, here are the books you requested." Saying that she places two books on the table before stepping back.

Looking at them I read the titles.

From tribe to Empire by Moonstone Mustang.
Law & Order by Marble Mystery.

I smiled and spoke to her "this is precisely what I needed, thank you... Ah what Is your name"

"Diamond Quill Your Majesty" she told me.

"Then thank you, Diamond, now it seems you're tired so do take a break." I spoke to her with a smile.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, I will do just that." And with that, she bowed before turning and leaving.

I had laid the book on my lap and was about to start reading when from the corner of my eye I saw her patting down her messy red mane. For some reason, my eye was drawn to the movement of her hoof.

From there my eyes drifted down her slender white neck to her barrel then on past her nicely sized flank all the way to her tail...

As I stared at her until she left my sight I had a moment to furrow my eyes at a weird weird sensation before the book went flying from my lap and landed on the floor with a small thunk.

I stared dumbfounded at it before I looked down... I suddenly started thanking every deity out there for the fact that nopony was there to see me with such an embarrassing "symptom".

I grabbed the book with my magic in lieu of standing up and risking even more exposure.

As I started reading I thanked and cursed Grogar for giving me hormones.

Sometime later

Surprisingly it took me less time than I expected to read them completely and I learned some interesting things here and there.

The Empire's founding went like this from were Night Shine left off.

Once Amethyst Rose finished learning under Gusty she said her goodbyes and returned to the northern tribes.

When she returned she helped her people by making sources of heat that weren't reliant on fuel, guarding their houses against the winds and even making traps to hunt the bigger creatures roaming the tundra.

Sadly, while enchanting was endless in its uses, the weakness was that for it to work it needed to be carved into appropriate materials. While Amethyst could carve them directly into the houses and clothes, this meant that they were weaker and lasted a shorter amount of time, sometimes they even backfired and damaged what they were carved into.

During her studies on enchanting, she had found a material that was perfect for holding enchantments, a small piece of crystal she had found back on her homeland, sadly no matter how much she searched she never found more of it.

Out of ideas she prayed for a solution to her problem, apparently, someone heard because soon after she quite literally stumbled into what would be known as the Crystal caves.

The Crystal caves are a massive underground cave system filled to the brim with magical crystals of many kinds.

With this discovery, she was able to truly help her people grow, while there aren't many details about it, at some point, she found a special Crystal which she spent the last twenty years of her life enchanting.

And so the Crystal Heart was created. At the start, the Heart's shield only protected them from the snow and wind and barely covered their small town, but, with time the more ponies lived near it the more love it channeled and the stronger it became until at one point the area inside the shield stayed in a constant state of warmth, allowing them to grow crops to sustain themselves and more.

Time passes and descendants of Amethyst's students realize that eventually, they'll be trapped inside the shield. And so they put their minds together to create a solution, but, even with their combined knowledge of enchanting, they were barely able to make four gates for the four cardinal directions.

Luckily they were able to make them in a way that they moved along with the barrier whenever it expanded.

An so centuries go past, advancements in crystal enchantments grow, and leaders came and went until an absolute monarchy was established.

As for conflicts with other races or nations, there weren't many.

There were some issues here and there with yaks but they tended to be resolved by friendly competition more often than not.

The only real encounter with griffons was when a small tribe of them came looking for a place to live and after some talks, they settled within the barrier.

The Empire never had many interactions with Equestria and the few that they had quickly turned sour due to the unicorns of the time not liking the idea of a kingdom full of magic-using earth ponies, but it seems it never devolved into an armed conflict.

The only time they had an all-out war was when a horde of bugbears suddenly came out of their territory.

Apparently, the northern gate was caught by surprise and overwhelmed, at the time the northern fort wasn't built to handle an army of flying enemies.

Things got worse from there and by the end, the only thing the Empire gained was a pile of corpses and their northern territory being destroyed, it took the empire more than a century to completely repair it.

After that nothing much of importance happened and the book ended with the birth of princess amore the fifth, the last princesses mother.

With that done I read the book of laws and while the laws seemed fairly "standard" besides some for the use of different kinds of crystals I realized the Empire took "Absolute Monarchy" very seriously.

Seriously, the royal family not only had complete control but they also were exempt from practically every law besides the ones regarding the Crystal Heart.

Anypony that purposefully damaged the Heart would be executed without trial, and even if they truly damaged it by accident they would still be heavily punished.

In a way, it was a dictatorship that actually worked to better its citizen's life.

The empire didn't have any nobles either, the closest thing would be the four administrators and the Griffin leader.

Centuries of this meant that the Empire just couldn't hold itself together without a central power figure leading them.

Generations grew up getting used to a powerful figure leading them that the few times they didn't have a leader everything went to hell until someone took control.

'This makes sense, it's twisted, but it makes sense' I thought to myself 'the Empire has been raising their citizens with the idea of a single figure ruling over everyone that whenever they are left leaderless they quite simply don't know what to do.'

This also explains why they put me in charge just like that. Another fact that I learned is that besides Sombra I'm the first male ruler they've had in centuries.

The sound of a throat clearing breaks me out of my thoughts and I turn to see Night Quartz standing a little ways from me.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty but it's time for the midday court." He said.

"Midday court?" I asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty." He said calmly.

I just sighed before speaking "I want somepony to write my schedule down before tomorrow." I ordered.

He stood straight and responded firmly "Your orders will be done Your Majesty, I'll have a scribe write it down and have it delivered to you before the day ends."

I simply nodded "good, now is there anything we should do before court begins."

He pondered for a moment before responding "maybe you should wear the royal armor for court, Your Majesty."

I thought for a moment before deciding to give it a look, and with that, we headed back to my chambers.

Once there some servants were called and a minute later four of them walked in along with a mannequin dresses in some armor and a coat.

Looking at it I realize it was almost like Sombra's with the main difference being that mine was a much more crystalline silver in color and of course, it was made for my size.

They obviously knew what they were doing since within a minute they had dressed me.

Looking in a mirror I realized that I almost looked like Sombra besides some key differences, first of being that instead of a royal coat of red with white fur trim I was wearing my own Ursa fur coat which covered my whole back and sides along with my tail.

For my crown, I had a simple silver circlet that almost went around my head, it had a single white crystal on the front.

The final thing was the armor piece that covered my chest along with my neck and some of my stomach, I had put my collar with the Crystal Bell hanging from it over it.

And so dressed as an Emperor and ready to rule I walked out of my room and was met with Night Quartz and a squad of guards who bowed, I just nodded at them and told Night Shine to take me to the throne room.

Crystal Palace
Throne Room

Reaching the throne room I saw that it wasn't much different from the one I could remember besides being a little wider and the throne being higher up.

As I walk towards the throne I noticed that along the walls are stationed many guards and at the foot of the throne stands an aged stallion with a blue coat and a faded white mane holding a small stack of papers.

Once I reached the throne I sat down and everyone bowed to me.

It was here, sitting on the throne watching ponies bowing to me that I fully processed the fact that I was now the leader of a massive empire.

I could only sigh and hope that things wouldn't go wrong.

Author's Note

First off thanks again to everyone who followed me and etc.
Also thanks to Trollmine I downloaded Grammarly so I hope it looks better now.
I already have most of chapter 4 planned so it should be posted within a week but I also have this story idea pecking at my head so I might post another story before it.
Here's a little preview of chapter 4.

"So, it's treason then."

With a roar, I caved his head in along with the surrounding ground.

My thoughts were interrupted as I felt a massive pulse of magic and love coming from the south.

"Your Majesty, an urgent report from the south gate."