Author's Note

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE THE CHAPTER.

Hey guys, first off, I'm sorry.
There isn't a better way of putting this.

I messed up and erased what I had written.
This is what I could bring myself to write again.
Although now that I have actual time to write and a good idea of what I erased the next chapter should come out within a week.
That being said I don't know if I should keep trying to write long chapters or simply write smaller 1 to 2k long ones.
That being said give my other story a read if you want.

And again I'm very sorry.

4 A smidgen of world-building.

Crystal Empire
Crystal Palace
Throne Room

Looking over the bowing ponies before me I shake off any doubts I had before telling them to rise.

Signaling to the old pony at the foot of the throne I spoke in what I hoped was a regal voice.

"What is your name."

"Onyx Tome, Your Highness, I was princess Amore's personal scribe and now yours." He responded.

"What are your duties then." I asked curiously.

"I mainly write down what happens during court along with any notes or letters you wish me to, help organize whatever you need, and inform you of any major happenings in the Empire." He says.

I hummed. "Very well, what needs to be done in today's Court." I asked.

He cleared his throat and stood straight before speaking. "Not much Your Highness, no ponies have come with complaints or problems to bring before the throne but there's still half an hour where any citizen can enter the court."

'It seems to be a pretty standard medieval court then.'I thought to myself.'Citizens can come and request help with their problems or get me to clear up disputes between them, they could also come to make requests or petitions to the crown.' The sound of Onyx speaking brought me out of my thoughts.

"Since nopony has come yet I should give you this Your Highness." Saying that he presented four neatly folded scrolls. "These are letters from the four administrators declaring their loyalty to the Emperor."

Grabbing them with my magic I brought them closer and noticed that they had wax seals, each had a different letter pertaining to which administrator they came from, South, North, West, and East.

The four administrators as their name implied were four ponies in charge of the communities outside the city, after all even if the royal family had complete control they couldn't manage an Empire on their own so the four administrators were put into place.

And so while the one currently in the throne directly managed the city and its surrounding farmlands the administrators had to send monthly reports about finances, their production rate, funding requests, and also inform the crown of any issues that required their direct involvement.

Each district had a different specialization on what they produced.

The south district was completely filled with farmlands and was the Empire's breadbasket.

The east district was where the Crystal caves were located and are the Empire's source of magical crystals.

The north much like the east was filled with mines but instead of magical crystals, they were filled with common minerals and gems that they provided the Empire with, a difference it had from the other districts was that the northern fort was much more heavily fortified than the other three, mainly because bugbears straying from their territory towards the Crystal Empire was surprisingly common.

The west district while housing ponies is where the griffons settled and compose the majority of the population there, filled with many rivers fish is in great abundance and it also used to be where trading with the yaks happened and where hunting parties rallied out to cull the yeti population.

Opening the four scrolls I reading through their contents I realized that they all said pretty much the same thing, too busy, sorry they couldn't be there personally, eternal undying loyalty to me and the Empire, apologies again, hints at single-relatives, gifts would be sent, blah blah yadda yadda, the only difference was their names.

The Southern administrator Gold Wheat, the Eastern administrator Mystic Clarity, the Northern administrator was Steel Hoof and finally, the Western administrator who was a Griffon called Ebony Beak.

Nodding to myself I rolled them back up and returned them to Onyx.

"Be sure to send them a message showing my gratitude, and is there anything else."

Onyx stored the scrolls in his satchel before speaking. "Well, your highness, there is the matter of your name, I'm afraid no one knows what it is." Onyx sounded apologetic by the end of it.

"Ah." I blinked as I realized I hadn't, in fact, told anyone my name.

Furrowing my brows I thought for a moment before speaking.

"My name...is Greema." I spoke.