Staving off boredom was definitely one of the harder parts of a long voyage. There was only so much you could do on an isolated little ship plowing through the waves, what with space at a premium; you had to make space for the crew quarters, storage for food, spare parts, rope, crates, barrels, and everything else needed to run a ship. There were only so many places you could go onboard, and only so much you could store. I’d been quartered inside of the captain’s cabin, but even that was only the size of a small room that was made very cramped thanks to the cot, table, chairs, and desk that were shoved into its limited space. It hadn’t seemed so bad when we first started our trip to Freeport, but there was only so long you could stare at its interior before claustrophobia and cabin fever started to set in. What made me feel bad was that I was better off than the rest of the crew, most of whom had to sleep in communal quarters.
Not to mention you were stuck with the same ponies for the duration of the voyage. Which could make things hard after a few weeks even when you got along with everyone. You really didn’t appreciate being able to just go outside and walk around town or the countryside until you had been stuck on a ship for a prolonged period of time. Getting out to fly helped, but there was only so much relief you could get from staring out at a featureless ocean. It really made me appreciate why sailors had a tendency to go a little crazy once they got back to shore.
I was currently busy reading Lighting A Fire: Torch’s Rebellion and the End of the Necrocrats while lying on my cot, though my heart really wasn’t into it. Part of that was because I’d already read the book twice during the voyage, but the other was because my mind kept wandering onto the fact that we were getting close to Freeport. My eyes kept drifting to the window and the islands sitting on the horizon. We had been passing the islands of the Freeport Archipelago for a few days now, and the captain said we were getting close to our destination. And once we got to Freeport...
A knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts. “Highness,” Storm said through the door. “May we enter?”
I was grateful for something new to do, even if Storm just wanted to check on me. “Sure, come on in.”
Storm stepped to the side and used a wing to hold the door open for Spike as he entered the cabin with a tray of food and drink. “It's not much, just coffee, biscuits, and eggs,” he said as he placed it onto the room’s small table, which had just barely enough room for four ponies to eat without bumping into each other.
I placed my book to the side and stretched as I stood. “I wasn't exactly expecting luxury accommodations for a weeks-long cruise. Even if that isn’t the same as saying the cuisine hasn’t grown a bit stale.”
Storm closed the door now that everyone was inside. “Then you will be glad to hear we are expected to make port today.”
My ears perked. “Thank goodness! I've run out of reading material.”
Spike frowned as he prepared the plates. “But didn't you bring, like, twenty books?”
“Twenty-four,” I groused. “Unfortunately, there wasn't room for that much more. A clipper only has so much room.”
Storm cast a sideways glance at the neatly ordered pile of books on the floor. “Even for you, that is a rather rapid rate of literary consumption. Is everything alright?”
“Of course, why wouldn't there be?” I said, perhaps a bit too quickly.
Storm frowned before softening her voice to sound more warm and welcoming. “Is there anything you want to talk about?”
I took a deep breath as I thought about the worries that had been plaguing me for the past few weeks. “Just, um, a bit nervous about when we’ll arrive at Freeport.”
“Why?” Spike asked as he continued to place down more plates. “It's just a diplomatic visit, right?”
“Which is really important,” I said. “I’m going to be meeting with Archon Sunset and the Council to finish hammering out a trade and friendship treaty with Freeport. I don’t want to screw it up.”
“Yeah, you shouldn’t be panicking just because—” Spike was cut off when the door slammed open, and a rack with a dozen dresses flew into the limited space of the cabin. I had to fall back onto my bed to keep from getting plowed over, Storm had to squish herself up against the wall, and Spike grabbed the table to keep lunch from getting knocked over.
Rarity immediately followed the rack and started frantically reviewing the dresses. “We're only a few hours out, Twilight! We have to pick the perfect outfit to make a good impression on your future paramour!”
I blinked. “Wait, what?!”
Rarity patiently sighed as she examined each dress in turn. “Dresses, darling. And then mane, makeup, and all the other details of your presentation.”
I decided to leave the part about Rarity mentioning a paramour out to concentrate on more practical and easier to grip issues. “Didn't we already have all of this picked out?”
“Oh, we'd discussed it quite a bit, but now we have to actually do it!” Rarity held each dress up to me in turn before scoffing or shaking her head and returning it to the hanger.
Spike frowned as she shifted the plates back into place. “Does it really matter that much?”
Storm and I grimaced at what Spike had just provoked with his question.
Rarity gasped as though she’d just heard some great, career-destroying scandal. “Of course it matters! Honestly, Spike, surely you know how important it is to make a good impression on someone you're trying to court?”
“Wait, what? I thought this was just a friendship thing…”
“We're not courting, Rarity,” I gently corrected. “Sunset just invited me to Freeport for an official visit.”
“Of course,” Rarity said with a dry smile. “That's why we spent an entire evening with you going over charts, graphs, and historical data to try and decide which dress you should wear and how you should style your mane.”
“Research is important,” I said. “It’s perfectly reasonable to want to want to be aesthetically pleasing to Sunset and the rest of Freeport when I’m visiting them for an official diplomatic visit.”
Rarity snickered as she tried to pick between a couple differentiating dresses. “Of course, darling, I’m sure that’s exactly what it is.”
Spike stared at me and Rarity in turn before his jaw dropped. “Wait a minute ... you’ve got a crush!”
I spluttered in what was probably an undignified manner. “What?! Nooo, of course not. Why would you say that...”' I felt my cheeks starting to burn. Why was everypony so interested in who I might be interested in? Ugh...
Spike groaned and ran a claw down his face. “Yup, iiiit's happening.”
“Oh, Spike.” Rarity patted Spike’s head. “Really, it's quite adorable to see. Now, I suppose we could always use a discerning male eye to—”
“Nope! That's not—” Spike looked around desperately before quickly finishing setting the table and grabbing up the now empty platter he’d entered with. “I'm gonna go wash the dishes.”
“I thought you hated washing the dishes,” Storm remarked dryly.
“Not as much as I'd hate being part of this conversation,” Spike grumbled as he made a hasty retreat.
I rolled my eyes as he left. “I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
“Oh, don't mind him.” Rarity waved dismissively as she started laying out brushes and makeup onto the cabin desk. “He's a bit too young to understand romance.”
I applied my hoof to my face. “It's not romance. Sunset and I aren’t dating or anything like that. We only met briefly when Sunset came to Ponyville.”
Storm’s grunt was more than a bit skeptical. “And the fact she said it was a date when she invited you to Freeport?”
“Sunset was probably just teasing me when she said that.” Probably. It had to be her just teasing me, right? That was normal for ponies that were friendly to one another.
There was another knock on the door before Cloud entered the cabin. She flashed everyone a shameless smile. “Hey, are we all barging into Twilight's room and bugging her?”
Rarity sniff hauntily. “I am not bugging her, I am being her fashion consultant.”
I gave Cloud a flat frown as Rarity continued to busy herself with my appearance. “She's rather insistent I look my best.”
Cloud nodded in understanding. “Sounds like Rarity.”
“One should always look one's best,” Rarity said. “You are representing Equestria, and I simply won’t let you present yourself at anything less than your best. Even if there are some challenges due to us being stuck on a ship for all this time. Ugh, what this awful sea water has done to my complexion and mane...”
“Yeah, this is pretty important.” Cloud turned her shameless smile onto me. “Especially when you're trying to hook up with foreign leaders on top of that.”
I groaned. “Why does everypony think that?”
“Probably because it's true,” Cloud said.
“I'm here for a treaty,” I said with strained patience. “I thought I explained that before we started this trip.”
“Sure you are,” Cloud said. “Just saying, you're also hot to trot that Archon's plot. Just remember you don't want to try all the freaky things you've read about in books on the first date.”
Storm sighed at her cousin’s antics. “Really, Cloud? Some day, you will treat Her Highness with the dignity her office deserves.”
“Oh come now, Storm,” Rarity said as she draped a couple of dresses over the backs of the chairs. “There's nothing wrong with a little casual teasing between friends, especially in private.”
Cloud nodded in agreement. “Exactly, it’s not like I’m going to cause a big scene in public. Kinda goes against me being her public relations director. Besides, I'm just saying what everyone was thinking.”
Rarity gave a ladylike cough but didn’t disagree with her.
I huffed as I tried to be a good sport about everything. “How about we start to get me ready then? Whatever's happening, I should make myself presentable for our arrival.”
“Of course.” Rarity raised the midnight-blue dress up to me. “Now then, I believe that your hours of statistical analysis indicated that this dress would be the most pleasing for Sunset.”
I shuffled in place. “Um, yes, that's right.”
Cloud rubbed her chin as she examined me with the dress. “Gimme a quick recap on which features we're working on. Do we know what Sunset likes?”
“Not that much, unfortunately.” I started pulling the dress over my head. “Princess Celestia was only able to tell me so much about her, and I only got to spend a few days with her while she was in Equestria.”
Cloud hummed to herself. “So no idea if we want to show off the rump, flank, wings, or anything?”
Of course those were the things Cloud’s head turned to.
Rarity scoffed as she got the makeup ready to use. “We hardly want to be crass in the display. This is a high-class diplomatic function as well.” She smirked slyly to herself. “Besides, it's far more tantalizing to hint at things than show them off right at the start.”
Cloud nodded. “Aaah, good point. Sort of like how an outfit that looks like it could fall off at any moment is way more enticing than just being naked.”
“Many ponies do not even wear clothes,” Storm said in a dry voice.
Cloud grinned in a way that suggested all sorts of naughty thoughts. “And how enticing does that make them look?”
Storm didn’t dignify the question with a response.
“Which is why we want to be subtle.” Rarity picked up a brush and started brushing my mane. “Something dignified for your first meeting. Then perhaps something a bit more tantalizing for a more private gathering. Like that silk dress I made you for evening wear. And then later on when you two are alone...”
I rubbed my brow. “I can't believe I'm listening to this conversation again.”
“Do you want me to escort them out?” The corner of Storm’s mouth quirked a hair into a grin. “Or perhaps throw them overboard? I give them good odds of making it to dry land.”
“You had better not,” Rarity said with an indignant sniff. “Do you have any idea what saltwater would do to my mane? I simply wouldn’t forgive you if you tried it.”
I snorted. “You heard her, Storm. She wouldn’t forgive me if I tossed her overboard, and I don’t want to hear about it forever. So I’m going to have to veto that.”
“Thank you for your consideration.” Rarity continued grooming my mane with cool efficiency, but there was still a note of humor in her tone. “Besides, I’m far too busy prettying you up for that nonsense. I haven’t even been able to think about what I’m going to do for myself, which is a problem when I need to consider how I’m going to make my first impression on Freeport society. It’s rather important when I’m thinking of opening another shop here.”
Storm looked to her cousin. “What about Cloud? Can I toss her overboard?”
Cloud playfully nudged Storm’s side with a wing. “Would that even do any good when I can fly?
“I would find it very satisfying.”
I couldn’t resist a little teasing of my own. “I should have known it would be trouble bringing both of you when you'd be stuck in close quarters.”
“Oh relax, Storm and I get along fine.” Cloud waved dismissively. “This is nothing compared to Storm’s rivalry with her sister.”
“Yes,” Storm agreed with a knowing grin.
“Now I know teasing is a time-honored tradition among friends.” Rarity grunted as she worked out a knot in my mane. “But perhaps we should focus on getting you ready for your arrival? I am serious about needing time to get everyone ready.”
I sighed and nodded. “It would be most terrible if I didn't arrive looking my best.”
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” Rarity agreed.
“Right, so let's make sure this one's a good one.” I settled in to get myself ready for my first time ever in Freeport.
A couple of hours later, I emerged onto the deck with my guards in tow. I wore the flowing midnight-blue gown Rarity had made for me. My mane was done up in an elaborate bun, along with accompanying makeup. Rarity meant well, but this felt like it might be a bit excessive. Not that I could exactly blame her for wanting me to make a public appearance in one of her dresses. She did want to create a branch of her business in Freeport, after all, and all of this pomp and circumstance was just another price of being a princess. Freeport didn’t want to insult Equestria by not treating my arrival as a big deal, and I didn’t want to insult them by making them think I didn’t care about what they thought. Those considerations and a dozen others made my crown feel heavy as we closed with the harbor docks.
Freeport sat on the horizon, slowly engulfing our view as we were sailing into the bay that dominated the center of the island nation. Ours was far from the only ship in the harbor, dozens of ships sat in the docks. Beyond was the city itself, with a wide variety of warehouses, businesses, homes, and markets that seemed to cover the whole of the island. Most of the buildings along the shore were made of brick, sported grey slate roofs, and were brightly painted.
It was nice to get some fresh air and to know that our trip was nearing its end. True, I felt more than a bit of trepidation—the purpose of this trip was a bit too big for any rational individual not to be a little worried. But I was looking forward to getting to meet Archon Sunset again, and it was going to be interesting to visit a nation I’d only gotten to read about up to now. Still, I felt nervous, and it was a sore temptation to review some of the lists I’d made before and during the voyage.
We slowly pulled into the port. All along the shore was a wide diversity of creatures. Ponies, zebras, and gryphons made up most of those gathered, though there was a cross-section of hybrids and other species as well. They all stared at my ship, and I realized, more than a few were looking and pointing my way. It seemed word had gotten around that I was coming to Freeport, given the large crowd that had collected.
On the dock itself were a half dozen individuals in the red, orange, and yellow cloaks of the Phoenix Guard, Sunset’s personal bodyguard. Among them were their golems, and each one had a different design: some were quadrupeds, others bipeds, some hulking constructs that dwarfed their owners, while others were no bigger than a chicken. This was probably my escort to Sunset, since I didn’t see the archon anywhere within the crowd.
The gangplank was set, and as a matter of course, a squad of my guard descended to speak with the Phoenix Guard. Once they confirmed that everything was fine, they motioned that it was okay for us to descend. Soon I was in front of a changeling that I recognized from Sunset’s previous trip to Ponyville.
Magus Kukri Doo strode proudly before me in her brightly colored cloak and a pleasant smile. “Princess Sparkle, on behalf of Archon Shimmer, this one would like to welcome you to Freeport.”
I returned her smile, happy to see a familiar face. “Hello there, and thank you for hosting me.”
“Don't thank this one, thank the Archon.” Kukri waved for me to follow her. “If you’ll come with us, we’ll escort you to the Archon’s tower.”
I nodded. “That sounds good to me. Lead the way.”
The Phoenix Guard parted the crowd to allow us to proceed forward. I tried to wave to those gathered but I quickly found myself shuffling forward to keep up with the group. Maybe in the future I’d get to interact with the crowd more? They clearly wanted to see me, considering everyone gathered around the guards maintaining a cordon around us. That would be something to discuss with Sunset later. But for now I was content to follow Kukri and let the guards keep most everyone as a distance. I didn’t want to cause any trouble for them when they were just following their orders.
As we walked along, I started studying the golems walking alongside us. Several smaller ones flanked Kukri, each of them with the frame of a bipedal lizard. Though they still possessed an obviously mechanical appearance, as each was covered in metal. I then looked at the larger golems and started wondering what all of them could do. “So, I see each of your golems is a unique design,” I said to strike up a conversation while we walked.
“Thanks!” said one of the Phoenix Guards. She was a hippogryph with a dual-green plumage, and she smiled widely as she spoke in an excited tone. “We all tried to find a way to express our unique selves in their designs, not to mention matching them to our specialties.”
“She doesn't need to know that.” Kukri murmured to her fellow Phoenix Guard in a manner that made me suspect that I wasn’t intended to overhear. The other guard grimaced, and Kukri pointedly cleared her throat. “Archon Shimmer’s been looking forward to your visit, Princess.”
“Has she now?” Rarity said with a knowing grin.
Kukri nodded. “She’s planning on taking you to see the Torch Liberation Museum, the academy, and other places in the city later.”
“My, how thoughtful of her,” Rarity said. Cloud leaned in to whisper something to Rarity, prompting her to giggle.
I rolled my eyes, having some idea of what those two were talking about. “Sooo, how far away is Sunset's tower?”
An earth pony Phoenix Guard with a light grey mane, blueish grey coat, and perpetually bored expression spoke up. “It’s right there. You can’t miss it.”
She pointed and she wasn’t wrong about how you couldn’t miss it. Sunset’s obsidian tower was like a black finger pointing into the sky.
“Huh, it sure is...” I tried to think of a nice way to say kind of evil looking. It wasn’t like I wanted to judge on appearances, but a tower made of black glass left an impression. “Unique to the architecture of the rest of the city.”
“While your palace perfectly fits in with a small town?” Kukri asked dryly.
The light grey mare turned her perpetually bored expression on me. “Your palace is made of dark, pointy purple crystals.”
“Freeport doesn't really have a consistent architectural style anyway,” the hippogryph said with a shrug. “Comes from being a melting pot.”
I glanced around the buildings around us, with its architecture drawing from the various cultures surrounding the island nation. “True enough. Everyone seems to build what they want around here.”
The hippogryph nodded. “Freeport believes in freedom.”
I opened my mouth to argue how that wasn’t technically true, historically speaking. Freeport had been ruled by several rather oppressive regimes over the centuries—the Golden Path and the Necrocrats being particularly noteworthy for their terribleness. But I decided that bringing up every despotic ruler in Freeport’s history wasn’t the most diplomatic thing for me to do.
Instead, I went with something nicer. “That should make it really fun to get to see the rest of the city later.”
That brought a smile to Kukri’s lips. “Definitely. As this one said, the Shimmer-mare’s been looking forward to getting to show you around.”
We reached the merchant district of Freeport. All around were stalls, buildings full of shops offering a variety of goods. Spices, textiles, tropical fruits, books, coffee, pottery, and more were on display, and merchants called out to potential buyers to purchase their goods.
“Oooh, I heard about this place,” I said. “The Freeport merchant district is world famous for the variety of goods it offers.”
“Freeport is a trade hub,” Kukri confirmed.
I tried not to let myself get too distracted by a bookshelf full of novels as we passed. “It’s a big part of why the treaty we're going to be signing involves trade.”
“It’ll help a lot with the sugar trade,” the grey coat guard said. “Lowering tariffs will make it a lot more profitable.”
“We were hoping that—” I was interrupted when someone pushed close to us.
“Spare some ducats?” An earth pony beggar who was missing a leg hobbled towards us. “Lost my leg on a sugar plantation. Mind helping out, miss?”
Kukri gave him a quick once-over and then snorted derisively. “If you want money, get a job.” She shooed him away with a flick of her hoof.
I blinked at this callous treatment. “Kukri! He's missing a leg. He deserves our help.” I pulled out my coin purse to give the poor beggar something.
Kukri narrowed her eyes at me before turning to one of her golems. “Get him.”
The little golem opened its mouth and made a hiss like escaping steam. It charged the beggar, who let out a panicked yelp and started running—on four legs I now saw. And he wasn’t an earth pony, for he now sprouted a horn. An illusion. He’d used an illusion to trick me!
My jaw dropped as I watched the golem run the beggar off. “H-he lied to me!”
Kukri glared after the fleeing conpony. After chasing the trickster for a bit, the golem suddenly stopped and turned around to return to us. “There's no way you're that naive.”
I frowned, not sure what to make of what I’d just seen. “I'm used to people being honest about that sort of thing.”
“Well in Freeport they aren’t,” Kukri snorted. “Try not to get conned. It doesn’t look good. But then, that’s why we were sent to keep an eye out for you.” She waved for me to keep following her. “Come on, no sense letting the riff-raff bother you.”
Kukri showed me into Sunset’s tower. The interior possessed all the fancy and luxurious decorating to be expected of a leader of a nation, even if I wasn’t sure if the tower’s decorations were because Sunset wanted to keep up appearances or she just liked her tower looking like this. After going up a couple of floors, Kukri escorted me to a doorway being flanked by a pair of golems I recognized as belonging to Sunset.
I crossed the threshold and found myself before Sunset. She was reviewing the contents of a scroll but put it down when I entered. I smiled for her, happy to finally meet her after weeks of travel. “Archon Shimmer, thank you for inviting me.”
Sunset stood from her desk. “Thank you for coming, Princess Sparkle.”
“I could hardly turn down an invitation from the Archon of Freeport.”
Sunset grinned. “I'm sure you could've found a way to if you really wanted.”
“But I wanted to come here. You know, to visit, and see what Freeport is like. And see you.” I trailed off, feeling embarrassed as I lost the line where I was going with that.
Where I felt unsure about myself and this visit, Sunset held herself with far more confidence as she walked around her desk with a sure step. “Well good, because I wanted you to visit. In fact, I’ve set an agenda for while you’re here, pending your approval.”
My ears perked. “Kukri mentioned something of what you have in mind, and it all sounded good to me. Honestly, I prefer it when everything is nicely organized and scheduled.”
“Then you’ll be happy to hear that I have everything ready for you to review.” Sunset picked up a scroll and levitated it over to me. I unraveled it and found a very neatly organized and bullet-pointed list of everything she wanted to do. “Let me know if there are any issues. We can move around or add anything if you prefer.”
My eyes scrolled through everything on the list. “I’m not seeing any issues at a first glance. We can go ahead with this for now. If I think of anything, I’ll make sure to have someone tell you.”
“Glad to hear it,” Sunset said. “I’ve been looking forward to getting to spend some time with you.” Her grin widened. “In fact, it’s one of my goals for your visit.”
There was something in how she said that that caught my interest. “Is that so?”
“Well yeah.” Sunset leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. “Considering that's kind of the point of going out on dates, right?”
“A d-date?!” I spluttered.
“Yup.” Sunset seemed far too calm for how flustered I felt. I mean, she just asked me out on a date! How could she be so calm?!
My words tumbled out of my mouth on their own accord and without so much as passing a memo to my brain about what they were up to. “I-I mean, that'd be, um, a surprise, and nice, and a surprise and I didn't know you were serious, and ehehehe, I—sure we could do that. If you're serious.”
Sunset snorted softly. “Breathe, Twilight.”
“Right.” I took her advice and took a deep breath—several in fact. Just like how Cadance had taught me. “I can do that. It's totally normal.” Not that anything felt normal at that moment. The Archon of Freeport had just asked me out on a date! And I was accepting! This was really happening. Sure, it’s been a possibility, but there was a big difference between a possibility and an actuality.
From behind me, Rarity whispered something to Cloud, and both of them giggled. Storm simply stood stoically as she watched everything, and Spike stared at Sunset with a frown.
Once I got my breathing under control, I spoke up again. “Um, you’re being serious about this, right? This isn’t you just teasing me?” This wouldn’t be the first time somepony had pulled my tail to get me worked up, and Sunset was definitely enjoying this.
“Oh no, I’m being very serious about the courtship.” Sunset raised her eyebrows as she kept grinning. “And I’m hoping you’ll say yes.”
My heart beat faster. “W-we can certainly give it a shot.” I glanced back at Rarity and Cloud, both of whom had to work to suppress further giggles. “I know some ponies would approve.”
“Great.” Sunset pulled out another scroll. “How about we confirm our plans for tonight and tomorrow, and get you settled in. You’ve just finished a long trip, after all.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Well, things had just gotten a lot more interesting.
After confirming our immediate plans, Sunset showed us where we would be staying in her tower and arranged for porters to bring our things from the ship. Really, after weeks of sea travel, it all felt like a whirlwind of activity. It didn’t help that I was distracted by the idea of courting Sunset. There were just so many questions that I didn’t have answers for. Would we get along? How would we deal with things like the distances between our homes? How would this affect Equestria and Freeport’s relationship? How long would we want to court? Was I now seeing the pony I’d end up marrying someday? What was I going to tell my family and friends?
The questions whirled and whirled as I set up in my quarters. The guest rooms were nice, being decorated in summer colors, with paintings, and expensive furniture set up around the rooms. From what the others said, their rooms were about as good as mine, though it looked like it was going to just about be a full house in Sunset’s tower. It’d been made as the residence of a single pony—or family. It was hardly cramped, but in terms of space it was about the same as the library. Before Tirek had blown it up, in any event.
Rarity was busy making sure everything was set up perfectly in my quarters, and Spike directed the porters on where everything was to go. Storm stood by the door and didn’t stop her cousin from entering. Cloud’s cocksure grin gave me a very good idea of what was on her mind even before she opened her mouth.
“What was it you kept telling us, Twilight?” Cloud asked, knowing full well the answer. “Something about how this was totally just a diplomatic visit and definitely not a courtship?”
I groaned and pressed my hoof to my face. “I didn't know how serious Sunset was when she invited me to Freeport! There was a very good chance she was just teasing me back then.”
“Pretty sure Sunset just put that debate to rest. She must be sweet for you.” Cloud waggled her eyebrows. “Not that I can blame her.”
“I think it’s quite romantic.” Rarity sighed wistfully. “A foreign ruler asking a princess for her love and to get married. It’s like out of an old storybook.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” I started pacing about the room as I considered the full implications of everything. “It's not like we’ve announced we’re getting married yet. I mean, that's the assumption when you start courting, historically speaking. Courting generally comes with the assumption that it’ll lead to marriage, but whether it goes through or not depends on several factors like compatibility and the political climate. But it doesn’t seem like Sunset to do this casually, and if she is serious about this then that probably means she really does want to get married. And that would mean—gah! So many things! What if I mess this up?! What if Sunset doesn’t really end up liking me?! What if I end up causing a big, huge international incident?!” My breaths started coming in short gasps as the weight of everything pressed down on me.
“Highness.” Storm placed a hoof on my back. “Everything is going to be okay.”
Cloud directed me to a cushion to sit down. “Exactly. Sunset seems to be nice and has a good head on her shoulders. Even if things don’t work out, I’m sure you can still be friends. And if they do work out, then you’ll get a special somepony to make you happy.”
I brought my breathing under control as Cloud rubbed my back. The massage helped work out some of the tension in me. “Right, everything's going to be okay. This definitely won't turn into a huge disaster.”
Spike snorted as he put some clothes away in a drawer. “I can’t imagine you offending anyone so much it caused a disaster, Twilight.” He wrinkled his nose. “Though it’s super weird imagining you dating.”
“You’re just saying that because she’s your big sister,” Cloud said as she kept rubbing my back.
“He’s not the only one who feels weird.” I sighed. “I'd feel a whole lot better if I knew what I was doing. We've got a date tomorrow, and I haven’t even made any preparations!”
Rarity placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Oh darling, you'll be just fine. Don’t overthink things. Just go out there and enjoy yourself. Have some fun, be a bit spontaneous.”
Cloud nodded in agreement. “It's really not that big a deal.”
“Fear will not help you make a good impression,” Storm said.
“I know that.” I buried my face in my hooves as I groaned. “It's not like I want to make a bad impression.”
Rarity patted my shoulder. “I think what they're trying to say is that you shouldn't let yourself get too worked up.”
I felt my frustration rise. I knew I shouldn’t get myself worked up, but that was easier said than done for something so important. “That’d be easier to say if we weren’t talking about me potentially getting married to somepony.”
“Do you want to marry her?” Storm asked.
I frowned as I considered the question. “I don't know. She's nice, we get along, and I like spending time with her. Though she is a bit older than me, we don't know each other all that well. Then there’s the fact that we live a long way from one another.”
“Which is precisely why one goes on a date,” Rarity said. “To see if you'd like to pursue things further.”
“Exactly.” Cloud started rubbing my shoulders in slow circles. “If it works out, great. If not, no sweat.”
“I guess that makes sense.” I sighed and looked back to Cloud. A question nagged me. “So, you're okay with this, Cloud? We have been kinda... involved, on and off.”
Cloud hesitated before answering. “Well, yeah, but I'm not looking to get in the way. I mean, our thing wasn't...”
She trailed off as she tried and failed to find the right word to describe whatever it was we had. To be fair, our whole thing was a bit complicated and not easily defined. Which just made me all the more nervous about where things might go with Sunset. I didn’t exactly have a lot of experience with the whole dating thing.
Thankfully, Rarity interposed herself into the silence with a delicate clearing of her throat. “I believe what you’ve had was a bit more ... casual than what you and Sunset have in mind.”
“That's probably a good way to put it,” I agreed. “I just didn't want to hurt your feelings, Cloud.”
“Thanks for thinking of me.” Cloud smiled as she wing-hugged me. “But you don’t need to worry about me. I’ve still got Eepy and Blossom, and we’re plenty happy together.”
Storm’s lips quirked into something that was almost like a smile. “Yes, and you’ve been together for a while now, haven’t you? Long enough that I’m sure you’ve talked about marriage at some point.”
Cloud squirmed in place as her cousin brought up the m-word. Something Storm had been doing periodically as of late. “Well, yes, but...” Her lips pressed together as she failed to follow up.
I was unable to help myself in joining in on a little bit of teasing and I nudged her. “If you want a wedding planner for when you finally tie the knot with Fluttershy and Blossomforth...”
Cloud coughed, and for something especially rare, her face reddened a shade. “Er, right...”
Rarity grinned just a tad sharkishly. “I’m sure it would be a beautiful wedding. I just know Fluttershy would look fantastic in a wedding dress. And Blossomforth’s coat and mane would compliment the dress too, for that matter.”
Spike smiled and nodded. “You know Rarity could make some great dresses. In fact, we’d all like to help.” He snorted softly. “Twilight especially. I wouldn’t put it past her to get married just so she could organize it.”
I rolled my eyes. “I'm not that bad.”
“So anyway, about you and Sunset...” Cloud said just a bit hastily.
I raised an eyebrow. “Trying to get to safer territory, Cloud?”
“Yes, she is,” Storm said.
Spike snickered as he refolded a shirt. “Nothing quite lets you get away from your problem like dealing with other people's problems. Am I right?”
“Mmm, quite.” Rarity puckered her lips as she studied Cloud. “I do trust you plan on making an honest mare of Fluttershy eventually.”
Cloud chuckled nervously as she rubbed the back of her head. “Of course!”
“Do you have any plans for when you’re going to make that happen?” Rarity pressed. “I really do have some wedding dress designs that are absolutely dying to be tried out.”
“Nothing solid yet.” Cloud grimaced and turned to me. “So what's your plan for Archon Shimmer?”
I decided to let Cloud off the hook for now. It was a good question, in any event. “I don't exactly have a plan yet. This did surprise me.”
Rarity hummed as she pressed her lips together. “From the sound of things, Sunset has a plan for tomorrow already. So I think it best to just go along with whatever her plans are for now.”
I nodded. “That sounds like a pretty good idea.”
“So go along with them for now, and take your time hatching your own clever scheme,” Cloud offered.
“I wouldn't exactly call them clever schemes for something like this.”
Cloud rubbed her chin. “Cunning plans?”
I sighed as my patience was tested. “Yes, because I'm going to launch some kind of scheme to net the Archon of Freeport, and bend her to my will.”
Cloud crossed her forelegs over her chest as she thought. “Date outline? Come on, you have to like that term. It has one of your favorite words in it.”
“That one isn’t bad,” I granted. “And coming up with some outlines couldn’t hurt.”
“No doubt the archon has done some planning of her own,” Rarity said. “After all, her planned date does seem quite tailored to Twilight's interests. At least I can’t imagine it’s an accident she’s taking her to see a museum and her own school.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the upcoming itinerary. “I am really looking forward to it.”
“It’s not that hard to scout out Twilight.” Cloud gave me a friendly nudge with her elbow. “I mean, anyone could tell you she loves books, magic, science, plans, and learning.”
I narrowed my eyes as I gave her a flat grin. “You could say I'm a bit of an open book.”
Spike snickered. “You're just asking to get read.”
“And now Sunset's gonna slip her bookmark between your pages.” Cloud waggled her eyebrows.
Storm groaned and facehoofed. It was a sore temptation to join my bodyguard in that action.
“Now now now.” Rarity waggled a hoof in the air. “I'm sure she'll want to take her time before doing anything with ... bookmarks.”
I sighed with exasperation. “What have I unleashed?”
“Madness,” Storm declared simply.
Author's Note
Thanks to my editors Chengar Qordath and Comma-Kazie for all their help, and to my pre-readers Brony Writer, wolfstorm56, Trinary, Rodinga, and PoisonClaw for their hard work editing.
The next morning, Spike and I headed down to the tower’s kitchen. Sunset had requested that we come for breakfast, and I didn’t see any reason not to agree. Our host must have been an early riser, because she was already wide awake, where my brain still thought now was a great time to still be asleep.
Sunset placed a newspaper to the side and smiled as we made our appearance. “Hey there. Ready for a nice breakfast?”
“You could say that.” I failed to stifle a yawn. As a habitual night owl, mornings just weren’t for me.
“So what did you two want?” Sunset grinned as I tried to blink the blurriness out of my eyes. “Perhaps some coffee to get you going?”
“Coffee sounds—” I yawned again despite myself.
“That would be a ‘yes’,” Spike said. “I’m pretty sure Twilight can’t function in the morning without at least one cup of coffee.”
“I just need some to get me going,” I protested.
“And another to keep you energized at noon,” Spike said, counting off with his fingers. “And then again in the early afternoon, and then usually a cup in the evening...”
Sunset chuckled and started prepping a pot. “So that would be a yes.”
“Thank you.” I sniffed as the wonderful aroma of coffee started wafting its way to me.
Spike’s eyes danced over to the kitchen. Sunset had an impressive array of cooking equipment and ingredients scattered about, something I was sure he could more than appreciate given how much he liked to cook. Though I did notice something was absent that I had expected to be in an archon’s kitchen. “Huh, you’re going to be cooking yourself?”
“This time, yeah,” Sunset said while putting on an apron. “I like getting to cook now and again. It’s a good way to practice precise pyromancy. You have to get everything just right or you risk burning or undercooking everything. Besides, I just wanted it to be us this morning.”
Spike grinned as his eyes sparkled. “Do you want any help? I'm usually the one that does the cooking back home.”
“I’ve got this.” Sunset levitated out some eggs and a skillet, but she stopped mid-motion to look at Spike. “Though I do wonder how cooking with dragonfire compares to my way of doing it.”
“I could show you if you like,” Spike said, puffing out his chest.
“How about next time? Right now I want to cook for all of you.” Sunset turned back to breakfast. “Anyway, how do you like your eggs?”
I sat at the table and waited for the coffee to finish. “Scrambled, please.”
Sunset gave me a playful grin. “Scrambled eggs are good, but I'm a little sad you didn't request something trickier like poached eggs.”
I grinned back at her. “Well if you really want to try and impress me...”
“Maybe a little.” The eggs cracked in midair, and then Sunset started frying them with her magic.
“Pull it off and then we’ll see.” I watched Sunset and appreciated the skill that the delicate use of pyrokinetics took.
“Sounds good to me.” Sunset started levitating more breakfast items, ranging from haybacon to fruit. She put the haybacon onto the skillet while simultaneously cutting up the fruit.
Spike frowned as he watched Sunset cook. “So, you want to date Twilight?”
Sunset nodded. “Yeah, I do. Seems like it's going well so far.”
“So is this a political thing?” Spike asked.
I nearly dropped the mug of coffee I'd been pouring. “Spike! It isn’t very nice to just come out and ask something like that.”
Spike crossed his arms over his chest. “What? I'm serious, I want to know why she wants to hook up with you.”
Ugh, it seemed that Spike was going big brother on me with the pony I was now dating. Just what I needed.
“It’s okay, Twilight,” Sunset assured me. “It’s a good question, and he should know the answer.” She turned to Spike. “There's definitely politics involved, but it's also personal.”
Spike cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah, how so?”
“I like her.”
I felt my cheeks start to burn when she said that. “That’s w-why we're dating. Err, courting, technically. To see how much we like one another.”
“Exactly,” Sunset agreed. “I have a pretty good feeling this will work out, but I wanted us to spend some time together to make sure we’re compatible.”
“That makes sense.” Spike’s words were amiable enough, but his frown showed that he still had some doubts. “I’d just like to know the pony that wants to date my sister better.”
“Ask away, then.” Sunset flipped the haybacon and dumped the fruit in a bowl. “Any preference on seasonings or add-ins?”
“How about you show me what you like,” I said. Hopefully Spike wouldn’t embarrass me too much with his questions. Though with any luck Sunset would be able to deal with any doubts he had.
Spike looked over the spices and seasoning available. “How about you show me some of the local stuff you’ve got? I did want to try some local cuisine while we’re here.”
Sunset nodded and levitated a couple of small jars. “I can do that.”
Spike rubbed his chin. “So, why Twilight then?”
Sunset started seasoning the food, diced up some peppers and onions, and cheese hovered over the eggs. “Like I said, I like her and I think we'd be a good fit.”
Spike grinned with a hint of mischievousness. “You into big purple nerds? Because that's what you're getting with Twilight.”
I groaned. “Spike!”
“What?” Spike started counting with his fingers. “You like reading all the books, and sciences, and all the nerdy hobbies. She should know what she's getting into.”
“I'd figured that part out, yeah,” Sunset said. “And I wanted someone smart enough to keep up with me.”
“You won't find anyone smarter than Twilight.” Spike smirked my way before turning back to Sunset. “Are you sure you can keep up with her? She’s the smartest pony I know.”
Sunset returned with her own smirk. “Well I did beat her in a friendly spar.”
Spike took on the same debate tone he usually took whenever arguing which comic superhero was the strongest. “One, you beating her was part of the plan. Two, being able to beat someone up in a fight isn’t the same as being smarter than them. Three, Twilight isn’t exactly all that violent to start with, so I doubt she was giving you her all.”
Sunset paused in her cooking to look at Spike. “I see someone’s Twilight’s little cheerleader.”
I found myself chuckling awkwardly as the two of them debated. “Now we don't need to turn this into a contest. I mean, we didn't want to hurt one another. Like, I could have capitalized on that one annihilation blast Sunset was using, but no sense taking things too far.”
Instead of relieving the tension as I hoped, Sunset frowned. “Capitalized on it how? That's one of my most powerful spells.”
Uh-oh. I realized I might have tackled the issue of our little spar with Sunset incorrectly. Things had gotten a bit tense when she’d visited Ponyville, but I figured all of that was in the past now. But I sensed that I couldn’t easily put aside what happened without making things even worse.
“Your mixing of anima and anti-mana is pretty dangerous,” I tried to explain. “It requires a perfect balance of diametrically opposed forces, with the potential to backfire spectacularly if anything goes wrong.”
Sunset continued to wear her frown. “Yeah, it's a tricky spell. When Kukri asked about learning it I had to turn her down.”
“I'd really prefer it if you didn't use that spell anymore,” I said. “You could get seriously hurt using it.”
Sunset blinked at that. “Wait, what?”
“Just what I said.” I stood up and walked over to her. “I don't want you using that spell. It's dangerous, and there are much safer spells to use than that one. As you said, you don't even want your own apprentice to use it.”
It took Sunset a few seconds to reply. “Um, no. I've been using that spell for years. I know how to handle it. It's completely safe for me.”
I frowned as I failed to believe her assurances. I’d seen that spell in action, and if I’d been inclined to take advantage of its natural instabilities... “We have very different definitions of completely safe.”
Sunset’s surprise faded into an offended frown. “Considering I'm the one who developed the spell and regularly uses it, I think I'm a bit more qualified to say that it's safe.”
I grimaced at her more defensive tone. “I'm just worried about you, is all. I don't want you to get hurt.”
Sunset paused and the hostility dropped from her voice. “Oh.” She hesitated for several moments before continuing. “It’s not like I don’t know what I’m dealing with here. I played around with the theory for a while before I cast it the first time under some ... kind of weird circumstances.”
I raised an eyebrow. “‘Weird circumstances’?”
Sunset shrugged and returned to her cooking. “I was fighting a warlock working for Blackfyre, and had to improvise to win the fight.”
My eyes widened. “You improvised that spell?!”
“Kind of, yeah.” Sunset sighed and shook her head. “Look, I would've been dead or worse if I hadn't. Plus I did that after overstimulating my brain with rune magic, so that helped.”
My jaw dropped. “You did what?! You're lucky you didn't give yourself an aneurysm playing around with your brain like that!”
Sunset stiffened and didn’t look at me. Instead she gave her full attention to the haybacon. I groaned and ran a hoof down my face as I guessed why Sunset wasn’t forthcoming. “So that's why Celestia's lessons about that were so specific.”
Sunset let out a huff. “Things got a bit desperate. I did what I had to do to save as many lives as possible. Anyway, food's done.” She put the breakfast on the table and pointedly sat down. It made me wonder how sore of a topic this was to her.
I sat down opposite of her. “It sure sounds like you’ve put yourself through a lot.”
I’d heard stories about Blackfyre’s return to Northmarch, but a lot of those stories were crazy. So crazy that I was pretty sure a lot of them were nothing more than rumor.
Sunset sighed and rubbed her foreleg. “I took some risks and made some sacrifices, but that's what I needed to do to stop Blackfyre. Now can we just drop all of that, already? I wanted us to get to sit down and have a nice breakfast together. Not draw up bad memories of a time I’d rather not dwell on.”
I frowned but decided not to press the matter. “Okay then. I think I can understand. Can’t say I like to talk about everything that’s happened in my past. Especially where some enemies are concerned.”
Some of the tension left Sunset’s shoulders and she started scooping out plates of food to everyone. “I can imagine. From what I’ve heard, Chrysalis is on both of our lists.”
I scowled as unpleasant memories surfaced. “You could say we have a history.”
“That's putting it mildly,” Spike groused. “She’s one nasty bug, you know that?”
“I think she's on just about everyone's enemy list now.” Sunset flicked her hoof to dismiss the topic. “But let's not dwell on her. How're the eggs?”
Deciding it was best to drop it, I tried my breakfast. “Mmm! These are really good! Cooked just right, with some nice seasoning.”
Spike joined me in testing the food and he hummed approvingly. “You need to give me the recipe for these, I like them.”
Sunset smiled. “I can help you get some of the Freeport ingredients I used, though you might have some trouble replicating my advantage in managing the heat side of cooking. I'm a bit more precise than a frying pan.”
“Yeah, I always hate when stuff sticks to the pan,” Spike grumbled as he scooped up some haybacon. “And dragon fire tends to be pretty potent.”
Sunset turned to me. “Looking forward to the museum, Twilight?”
My lips spread with a big smile. “You know it! I've been looking forward to that since I saw the schedule.”
Spike snorted. “If you really know Twilight, you wouldn't even need to ask that.”
“Well, just between you and me.” Sunset leaned in to whisper conspiratorially to Spike. “Maybe I'm just hyping her up.”
“Makes sense, just be careful about getting her too wound up,” Spike said. “Otherwise she'll be hopping around like a filly in a candy store.”
“Eh-hahaha! Spike, stop exaggerating.” I nudged him with a wing to try and get him to be silent. “I think it’s perfectly reasonable for me to look forward to getting to see the Liberation Museum. Not to mention Sunset’s school, and—” I couldn’t help but squeal in a fillyish manner as I thought of all the things I’d get to finally see and visit in Freeport. “This is going to be great!”
Sunset raised an eyebrow and looked to Spike. “Are you exaggerating?”
Spike grinned. “You're going to find out.”
I started to pace about the kitchen as I considered the possibilities. “Oh! I do hope we're going to have time to see all the exhibits. And do you think there's a chance I could review the curriculum of your school? Oh! And I'm going to want time to check out a couple of books while we're here. There’s going to be time, right?”
“I'm pretty sure I can make all the time we'll want,” Sunset said.
“Great. I mean, as long as I'm not taking up all your time.” I gave her an embarrassed smile. “You must be busy. Ruling your own nation and all of that.”
“It’s fine. I set aside this time for you, Twilight.” Sunset grinned at me. “After all, I wanted to get to spend plenty of time with the mare I was considering marrying.”
I squeaked and found myself half covering my face with a wing. “Th-that is true, yes. Spending time together is good when we’re considering, um, that.”
“So how about we finish up breakfast and then we’ll get started.” Sunset pointed at my table spot where my cooling meal was waiting. “You don’t want to go on a big, exciting day of visiting museums on an empty stomach. Right?”
I chuckled and felt my embarrassment grow as I sat back down. “You’re probably right about that. Things are shaping up to be quite interesting.”
Sunset and I walked through the doors of the Freeport Liberation Museum, and I took in a breath of the old, clean air typical of institutions of learning. The main hall was covered in black marble, and it branched down a couple wide hallways that led to the exhibit rooms. Our entourage came in with us, and soon the entrance to the museum was pretty occupied.
Sunset turned to me. “Anything in particular you wanted to see while we're here?”
“How about everything?” I asked with a smile. “Assuming that’s not an issue with your schedule.”
“It shouldn’t be.” Sunset nodded to one of her guards, a unicorn mare by the name of Sunny Flair. “Checkout the whole building, then.”
Sunny saluted Sunset. “Of course, Archon.” She turned and gave instructions to other phoenix guards to make sure the museum was secure.
Having a bunch of magi with golems make sure there wasn’t something like an army of ninjas waiting to jump out of nowhere seemed like an excessive measure, but I wasn’t going to make an argument about it. I knew from my experiences with my own guards that they liked to play on the cautious end of things, and rationally, I couldn’t blame Sunset for wanting to protect me. It would reflect really badly on her if I got hurt. Not to mention—well, we were courting. Needless to say, someone attempting to assassinate me would put a rather sour mood on the date.
“I hope we're not causing too big a disruption,” I said while we waited for the Phoenix Guard to secure the building. “I don’t want to ruin the museum-going experience for anyone else.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” Sunset said. “We scheduled the visit for when the museum isn’t busy to start with. My guards are only going to clear some rooms for us as we move along and coordinate with the staff.”
I wasn’t entirely sure about that. A couple approached the museum door, but upon seeing the guards standing there they turned around. That was one of the things I’d grown to dislike about being a princess: my mere presence tended to disrupt everything around me. I couldn’t even go to the Ponyville bookstore without Storm wanting to close it down so that I could peruse the aisles without having to worry about some assassin jumping out from between the bookshelves.
Still, I was here on a date, and Sunset was trying to make the best of it she could. It’d be rude not to be thankful. “This should be a lot of fun,” I said with a smile.
“I sure hope so.” She waved at the hallways. “So which section did you want to do first? History?”
I nodded. “Sounds good to me. I have always wanted to see Liberty Hall where the Torch exhibit is.”
“Wanna skip right ahead to that, or go through it in chronological order?”
“Well I wouldn’t want to miss anything,” I said. “I did come a long way, after all.”
“Sure, I’ll show you around.” Sunset led the way towards the exhibit hall. Besides the guards that had gone on ahead, everyone else was giving us a lot of room. Even a couple of the museum’s curators were waiting in the wings instead of eagerly jumping forward to give us the tour. It made me wonder if they were just showing deference to our stations or if this was some silent conspiracy to make sure Sunset and I hooked up. Considering the way Rarity, Cloud, and Strumming were whispering to one another while giving glances to me and Sunset, I had a pretty good idea which answer it was.
The first exhibit we entered was the one focused on Freeport’s earliest history. Pirates and smugglers had been among the first to settle on the Freeport Archipelagoes, and they had given rise to the old Pirate Kings. All the artifacts in the display cases were either old or reproductions. They ranged from old weapons and tools, as well as a few old paintings depicting when Freeport had been an even rougher place than the present. Several notable pirate flags were hanging on the walls, and a display of several models showed the evolution of ships over the ages.
Sunset stepped over to a display with a painting of a vaguely equine figure with a red coat, swirling horns like a ram, and a black and extremely pointy crown. “So we don't have a ton of reliable history for anyone before Marghast the Demon Pirate King. He was the one running the show when Equestria was busy establishing itself.”
“Oooh, interesting.” I smiled widely as I started reading the plaques. “I’ve read about him. Pretty nasty piece of work, given he pretty much ruled the seas for a time. None of the coasts were considered safe because of him and his pirate fleets.”
Sunset nodded. “Not a ton of artifacts from his time, unfortunately. Both because of how long ago it was and how the Golden Path tried to wipe him out of history as much as possible.”
I glowered as I remembered that little bit of historical vandalism. “Right, a lot didn’t survive the Golden Path, what with their tendency of burning any books with anything they didn’t approve of. Which was pretty much everything that they didn’t write. We lost so many tomes because of them.”
The Golden Path had overthrown the pirate kings and risen to power with the promise to bring about a moral and just new order. What had risen instead was an extremely oppressive and despotic government that busied itself controlling everything its citizens did. Part of them tightening their grip had been to destroy any proscribed literature, art, or pretty much anything else. As a result, most of Freeport’s early history came from non-Freeportian writers or the handful of works that had surviving copies in other countries.
“They weren't fond of preserving any reminders of the decadent and corrupt past.” Sunset frowned at the replica crown and cutlass in the display. “Then again, when the guy running Freeport before them was a Pirate King who sold his soul to demons, there were probably some relics of his that we wouldn't want saved.”
She walked by my side as we headed into the part of the hall that displayed artifacts from the time of the Golden Path. She stopped in front of an extremely ornate, gold-trimmed book that I recognized as the Golden Path’s main holy text: The Codex Aurum. “It’s a trend in Freeport’s history. Some new group overthrows the old corrupt government with the intention of making things better, only to grow corrupt over time and get overthrown themselves. Though hopefully we’ve learned enough from history to avoid doing that with the Archonate. It would be nice to not have a display about how the decadent and corrupt Archonate eventually fell and got replaced by a new regime.”
“I'd certainly hope so. Especially when, well...” I chuckled self-consciously. “There's a chance it might be my kid who will be the next archon. I’d be a bit of a grumpy grandma if my grandkids got overthrown because they became evil and incited a revolt against themselves.”
Sunset snorted and hip-bumped me. “Just a chance we’ll have kids?”
“Weeell, I do want to be a mom someday,” I said. “And I've enjoyed our time together thus far.”
Sunset went silent for several seconds as she stared down at the display. “Yeah, me too.”
“That you’ve enjoyed our time together, or you want kids?”
Sunset gave me a wry grin. “Maybe I’ll keep that a mystery.”
“I’d recommend against it.” I poked her shoulder. “Because having kids is going to be part of the package if we’re going to get married.”
“Okay, yes,” Sunset said with an exaggerated sigh. “I want kids. There’s the whole fact I need heirs, and... I think I’m ready for that phase of life. My godkids are so much fun.”
“Oooh, godkids?” I smiled. “You’re going to have to introduce me to them.”
“Definitely,” Sunset agreed. “They’re a mischievous pair who keep me on my toes, but that’s part of the fun.”
“I look forward to getting to know them.” It certainly seemed like a good idea to get to know the people close to Sunset better. If things worked out with Sunset, then I was going to be spending much more time in Freeport and her social circle. Getting along with them would go a long way to making things easier for both of us. Plus it was always fun to get to know new people.
“I’ll talk with Strumming about arranging something when I get a minute,” Sunset said. “Should be easy enough to make happen.”
“Good to hear.” I returned my gaze as we walked up to a display showing the white and gold robes of a Golden Path priest. “It sounds like you have experience with kids, at least. That’s good to hear given the type of plans we’re talking about.”
“Yeah, I know I didn’t want to have kids just because I needed an heir.” Sunset’s brow furrowed and her voice became tight with tension. “That wouldn’t be fair to them. I’m not going to have any kids if I can’t raise them into a loving home where their parents want to spend time with them.”
There was a lot more anger in that statement then I would have expected. What could be behind that anger? I wanted to ask her, but I sensed that wouldn’t be a very good idea. Instead I decided to try and be supportive.
“I agree,” I said. “I know it won’t be easy given our duties, but I want my kids to have a happy childhood.”
“Good to hear.” Sunset let out a breath, and some of the tension left her. “And if I’m going to be honest, if I’m serious about ever having kids it’s now or never. This isn’t exactly the type of thing you want to put off forever.”
I didn’t want to say anything about Sunset’s age, but she wasn’t exactly wrong about that. She was a long way from old, but she was getting well into middle age. After a certain age it got a lot harder to keep up with a bunch of young and energetic kids, not even getting into the potential difficulties and medical complications that came with waiting too long to bear foals. That might even be part of the explanation for why she had picked a potential spouse significantly younger than herself. It was a lot easier to sire than to be pregnant, to say the least.
She was right about not wanting to put this type of thing off forever too. I’d started exploring my own possibilities as well before coming to Freeport—at least when time allowed for it. Half the time it felt like I didn’t have time for anything, and a part of me could feel the sands of time trickling away. Given my ... behaviors, I could easily see myself suddenly finding myself an old mare and without having ever had the family I wanted. It would hardly be a life not worth living, I enjoyed my life as it was, but I still did want a family and joy it brought. Those facts did make courting Sunset all the more appealing, even with the inherent troubles involved.
“I can understand that,” I told her. “At least we can agree on this much: knowing if you want kids or not is a pretty important question to know the answer to.”
“You can say that again.” Sunset briefly froze as she moved to the next display case. “Even if the idea of being wholly responsible for a smaller version of myself is more than a little bit scary.”
“You’re telling me,” I agreed. “It’s a whole lot of responsibility.”
“Among the reasons why I wanted someone I could get along with,” Sunset said. “It‘d make me feel better to have someone I can depend on to help me raise my kids. If I had to, I could probably do it all by myself, but having two parents makes a big difference.”
“That’s pretty reasonable.” I frowned as some thoughts came to me. “Of course, there are a few hurdles for us to overcome.”
Sunset led us to a new room, this one with displays showing the Zebrican Empire’s occupation of the Freeport. There were stands with dated Zebrican armor, weapons, as well as paintings of the sultan of the time, and several other important figures from the period. “I figured a few things would come up. Anything in particular you wanted to talk about?”
“Distance comes to mind,” I said as I studied a document announcing several new laws in Freeport now that the Empire was in charge. “Freeport is a long way from Ponyville, after all. That’s going to make a few things complicated, like us getting to spend time together. I don’t want to just leave my home and all of Equestria, and you can’t just leave Freeport when you’re its ruler.”
Sunset nodded. “It's definitely something we'll have to consider, but it seems like the kind of problem we could find solutions to if we wanted.”
“That’s what I hope.” I turned to her. “I mean, not seeing you every single day wouldn't be the worst thing for me. Sure, it’s not ideal, but, um, I hope I’m not making it sound like I don’t want to see you.”
Sunset shook her head. “No, I get you. We’re probably going to have periods where we’re not going to get to see one another due to our duties. Admittedly, that’s something I was worried about too. I know you really like being around your friends, and might not like being so far from them.”
I frowned as I considered that and other problems. She wasn’t wrong about that. Sure, there were magical means by which to maintain communication, but that wasn’t the same as actually being in the same room with somepony. However I chose to deal with this, something was going to need to be sacrificed to some degree. There were just so many hours in the day, and I could only be in one place at a time.
“Being away from my friends isn’t something I like the idea of,” I admitted. “Though I’m also worried about if we have kids. I don’t want them to feel neglected because one of us isn’t around.”
Sunset grunted. “Right, I don’t want them to feel like we don’t care about them. I suppose we could always try some sort of way to cut down the travel time. There are plenty of tricks we could use.”
“That is true.” I rubbed my chin as I considered the possibilities. “There are several different forms of magical travel, even if none of them are exactly easy to pull off.”
“I'm not sure how viable they are, but between the two of us, I was figuring we could figure something out,” Sunset said.
I nodded. “I wouldn't mind looking into what options we have with you.”
“Great.” Sunset smiled and headed over to the next set of exhibits. There sat another old tome, this one titled The Noble Necromantic Arts of Ancient Selerika by Ushabti. “Now here’s the source of a lot of trouble—the book all the Necrocrats went crazy over. Of course, most of them never actually read it.”
I snorted. “Isn’t that true of a lot of intellectual discussions? I’m sure you remember at school how somepony would say they were all into Epic Curious or Lyequinegus, but as for how many actually read any of their works...” I tilted my head as a question came to me. “Have you read that book?”
“Cover to cover,” Sunset confirmed, sounding far too comfortable about having admitted she’d just read a big how-to guide for necromancy. “I was curious, and it seemed like the prudent thing to do after some other things that happened. I don’t agree with his argument, but I think it’s fair to say that the Necrocrats were ... not an accurate reflection of what Ushabti had in mind. Just like the way the Council was for a long time didn’t match up with what Torch wanted. That’s part of what I’m doing in Freeport as Archon: making sure we don’t lose those original ideals in the shuffle of day-to-day rulership.” She glanced over and rolled her eyes. “And before you ask: yes, that does mean I know how to do necromancy. It’s really not that hard. I bet someone as smart as you could figure it out pretty quickly if you actually wanted to. I just don’t use that knowledge.”
“Oh, good to hear.” An awkward chuckle bubbled out of me. “I was just a bit worried. Not seriously worried. Just a curious type of worried because I didn’t know all the facts. But I do now, so now I feel better.” I cleared my throat as I tried to direct the conversation away from how I thought for a second that Sunset might be a practicing necromancer. “It would be nice to avoid the mistakes of the past. What’s the point of history if we can’t learn from it?”
Sunset nodded along. “Yeah, it's hard not to notice some of the messy trends in Freeport’s history, and I'd like to avoid being on the wrong side of them. I don’t want to have someone five hundred years from now giving a tour in a museum, talking about how the Archonate lost its way and became decadent and corrupt, only to be overthrown by brave freedom fighters.”
“I don't blame you for that.” I looked at a display of Necrocrat skeletal soldiers. It was probably just a mock representation. Probably. They wouldn’t use someone’s actual skeleton for something like that, right? “In no small part because it might be my kids and descendants running the Archonate. Though I have to say, you've got a big job ahead of you. Creating a government that stands the test of time isn’t exactly easy. Most rulers are just satisfied ruling well over the course of their lives.”
Sunset thought about that for a second, then shrugged. “I guess being trained by Celestia made me think about building something that’ll outlast me. Sure, four hundred years isn’t bad by most standards, but I don’t want to make something that’s just good enough. Though I have no idea how succession’s going to work yet...”
“Why I’m here?” I asked. “Not hard to guess that whether I say yes or no to a marriage would make a big difference to your plans.”
Sunset chuckled and nodded along. “Yeah, passing the Archonate down through my bloodline is one of the obvious ideas everyone came up with. Not to mention that from what I understand we’d be pretty much guaranteed to have an alicorn kid, and that’s a pretty clear advantage when it comes to leadership claims.”
“That is true. Alicorns do have a lot of prestige to them to say the least, in addition to other benefits.” I rubbed my chin as I thought what she said and grinned. “‘Pretty much guaranteed,’ you said? Has somepony been doing some research?”
Instead of smiling at me, Sunset actually looked away. “Yeah. I had my DNA checked recently, just as a precaution after some of the stuff that’s happened.” She walked over to the next section of the museum which covered Torch’s anti-slavery campaign, and stopped in front of the display case containing Chainbreaker. “How much did Celestia tell you about Blackfyre’s return and the Northmarch Campaign?”
I joined her in looking at Chainbreaker, wondering what her change in tone meant. “Not much, admittedly. After it happened, Celestia deflected most of my questions about everything, and I didn’t really press that hard given most of my energy was on my studies at the time. I know you were involved in stopping Blackfyre, along with Celestia and Argentium the Runescaled. As well as how the campaign went. Shining was involved in that, and he told me all about it.”
“Well, the parts he was there for.” Sunset flexed her right foreleg, staring down at it with a faint frown. “Suffice to say some stuff happened, and...” She closed her eyes and concentrated for a second, conjuring up a cloud. Then she hopped up onto it, standing on it without any trouble. “Well, this is one of the less bizarre side effects.”
I raised an eyebrow and cast a scanning spell. To my surprise, she didn’t have a cloud walking spell on herself. Sure, she had a range of protective spells all over herself, but nothing that should have let her walk on a cloud. That left me with a great many questions. “How are you standing on that? I don’t think I need to go through all the reasons why that shouldn’t be possible.”
“Well, now that I’m done showing off...” She hopped down off the cloud, then conjured up a scroll, passing it over to me. “Since we are talking about kids and everything, I thought you might want to have a look over what I’m bringing to the table. If you really want the full story behind it all I can share, but it’ll take a while.”
My eyes scrolled over the data in front of me. It was a bunch of genetic data about Sunset’s DNA, and there were several odd bits about it. Her DNA was primarily unicorn, but had several noteworthy bits where it sequenced as that of an alicorn’s. It was as though someone had randomly spliced in several bits of alicorn DNA into a unicorn at some point. There were a couple other anomalies as well—and I wasn’t exactly sure what I was reading was.
“If I’m reading this right, you’re an alicorn in several bits of your genetic makeup,” I announced. “Though you’re still primarily a unicorn. Though there’s a few parts here and there I’ve never seen before. I would need more data to know what I’m looking at.”
“Short version, I got dosed with a dark magic mutagen, then merged my soul with Torch and Ushabti’s. Or something like that, it’s kinda complicated. Point is, from what Celestia’s said I’m kind of like an alicorn, except without wings or a lot of the other things that go along with being an alicorn.”
“Huh, that’s intriguing.” I reexamined the scroll’s contents now that I had some context. “That would explain a few things. Now I can see why you think we have a high chance of having an alicorn between us. Or at least some sort of proto-alicorn. That depends on several factors.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to say for sure until we actually have a kid.” She paused and glanced at me. “That is, assuming we get to that point.”
I cleared my throat. “Right, that is a pretty big step.” I did my best to smile for her. “The good news is that I’m enjoying this date. The museum’s been a good pick.”
“Glad you liked it.” She led us over to another book in a display case next to the sword. The first thing I noticed about it was the unusual cover; not many ponies would use ironwood for a book cover. “Evergreen Shimmer’s grimoire, on loan from my family collection. Seemed like a fun thing to add to the museum.”
I remembered enough of my political lessons from Celestia to have a pretty good idea of what she was up to. “And I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that it helps tie your family’s legacy into Torch’s Rebellion.”
Sunset shot me a dry smile. “A happy coincidence.”
“Well then, I see my potential spouse is a very far thinking and manipulative mare,” I teased as I poked her chest. “How very appropriate for a Freeport Archon.”
“I mean, Celestia taught both of us, so are you really that surprised?” She snickered to herself. “That reminds me, did she ever tell you about how I broke the locking spell on her diary? Or how I used to steal all of the cake she had stashed away, because I thought it was another one of her weird tests?”
I held a hoof up to my mouth as I snickered. “Nooo. Well, she told me she had to enhance her locking spell after a naughty little filly got past it, but she didn’t tell me that was you. And I’m surprised to hear she has cake locked away. I always figured she always had the kitchen make it on demand.”
“I think that was her midnight snack stash,” Sunset answered. “You know, so she didn’t have to bother someone late at night. I usually just make my own food if I’m hungry late at night, but I guess cake isn’t really something you can cook on your own in a couple minutes.”
“It’s really not,” I agreed. “And you seem to have gotten a bit of a mischievous streak in you too. That’s good to know.”
Sunset snickered. “I don’t know about it being a full-blown mischievous streak, but I do have my moments. What about you? I’m sure you’ve got some fun stories about ways you messed with Celestia.”
“Weeell, I wouldn’t say mess with Celestia.” I felt my cheeks start to burn. “There were a ... few times when I might have read something that got me so hyped up that I ran to Celestia’s bedroom in the middle of the night to ask her questions. And I might have kept her up until it was time for her to raise the sun with my questions. I was a very curious little filly.”
Sunset snorted and shook her head. “I can definitely believe that. Though I might have to dispute your use of the past tense: you’re still a very curious mare.”
“Guilty as charged,” I agreed. “Though more of a grown mare than a little filly these days. Since Celestia will probably confirm that I asked her some questions about you back in Canterlot.”
“Are we talking about asking questions when you were a kid, or right before you came here?” Sunset smirked and nudged me with her elbow. “Just trying to figure out if you were pumping her for intelligence on how to impress me. Because if you did, it’s working.”
My lips wormed into a grin as my cheeks felt hotter. “I did ask about all of Celestia’s students in the past. Though you were the focus of my last round of questions. I figured it’d be a good idea to know about you before you started talking about getting married and having me carry your alicorn foals so that they can rule Freeport for untold generations. You know, just to lay out some groundwork.” I nudged her back with my elbow. “Not that you weren’t doing more or less the same.”
“I admit nothing.” Sunset smirked at me. “Though honestly, I half-suspect Celestia’s been trying to set us up. She did keep mentioning how smart and friendly you were, and how much I would like you if I met you...”
“Uh-huh, my isn’t that suspicious?” I smirked back. “Because she’s been saying very similar complimentary things about you too. I think you might be onto something about setting us up. Do we count that as endearing or creepy?”
“Little of column A, little of column B.” She looked at me, then shrugged. “As long as it’s something we both want to do for our own reasons, and not just because it’s some plan of hers and we want to make her happy, I’m not too worried about it. I’m doing this because I like you, not because Celestia or anyone else thinks I should.”
“Yeah, me too.” I tried to wrap my leg around hers, but then Sunset suddenly shied away from my touch. She pretended to walk over to check out one of the other exhibits, but a second later she walked back over to me and wrapped her left leg around mine. That was ... weird.
Sunset cleared her throat. “So, uh, is there anything else you wanted to see here?”
I decided to let that weirdness drop for now. Maybe I was just imagining things. “I wouldn’t mind seeing a little of everything if we’ve still got the time.”
“Nah, we’ve got all the time in the world.” Sunset gently pulled me along as we got to explore the entire museum.
Author's Note
Thanks to my editors Chengar Qordath and Comma-Kazie for all their help, and to my pre-readers Brony Writer, wolfstorm56, Trinary, Rodinga, and PoisonClaw for their hard work editing.
