War. For much of Hurricane's life, it was all he had known. Then came the war against a foe he couldn't fight, the wendigos, and the winter they brought with them. This harsh and uncontrollable winter caused him to lead the Grand Pegasi Armada to a new land, back when he was just Commander Hurricane. It all seems like so long ago now, though it was barely two decades ago, all of this coming to his mind as he walked through the elegant halls of the nation's temporary capital, the castle of Canterville.
Canterville was a quaint mining town that had been steadily growing for years now, under the leadership of Princess Platinum and her Archmage Clover. As Hurricane walked through the stone halls of the castle he looked to his side, causing his ceremonial armor to shift slightly, where he saw the love of his life, Pansy. He remembered when she was just a young private who showed so much potential but lacked the courage she needed to command. Now she stood tall next to him her fur, a lighter blue shade of his own cobalt, was immaculately groomed and her white mane done up into the traditional bun of a female commander of the Pegasi. She was the love of his life and they had been married only one year after the coronation of the Princesses before the start of the crystal war. When she noticed him looking at her she turned to him with a kind smile that nearly caused him to lose his carefully woven composure.
Instead, he simply smiled back, something he shouldn't be doing as he was still her commanding officer when they were in public, and turned back to the large wooden door they now stood in front of. He sighed slightly, this was not a meeting he was looking forward to, less because of the company, because this would be one of the few times he would get to see his old friends, no he didn't like the circumstances that made this meeting necessary. He steeled himself and got back into the posture of a commanding officer as he opened the door to the council room and analyzed his surroundings.
Before he could get far, however, a voice would interrupt his train of thought "Ah Hurricane it's been far too long old friend" and he turned to see the mare who had said that. She was a mare who simply exuded grace and agility as if crafted to do so, and that was speaking nothing of her beauty which was nearly indescribable. Her pale lavender fur was so well-groomed you couldn't even see the marks of age nor stress and her white mane was beautifully styled into a regal cut falling just below her right shoulder.
He quickly went up to her and took her waiting hoof in his shaking it firmly saying "same to you Platinum how's your hunt for a husband going?" She looked at him with a slight frown, letting go of his hoof, for but a second before shaking her head and smiling up at him her ruby eyes the only thing betraying her true feelings.
"In truth, it is not going all that well, but I do believe ill find, someone, one day," she said wistfully before trailing off for a few seconds seemingly lost in thought. Hurricane knew she didn't normally do that, meaning she was probably lying about something though for the life of him he didn't know why. Before he could ask her about it, she quickly asked him "what about you, how is little Lightning Flash doing?".
Hurricane knew she had just changed the subject but decided to ignore it because he loved talking about his daughter more than anything. "She is doing great, we just got her apprenticed to my brother Ocean Wave after she turned five, she's beginning to look so much like her mother." As he finishes he nuzzles up to Pansy who blushes fiercely but leans into the nuzzle before breaking it off and looking around the room herself.
As she finished scanning the room she turned back to Platinum and asked "are the others here yet?" Platinum turned to her and nodded before moving to the main table of the room.
"No they aren't quite here yet hopefully they will get here soon especially that bloody Archmage of mine," Platinum said in slight frustration just as the door swung open revealing a slightly disheveled light brown mare dressed in her signature cloak with her slightly singed two-toned green mane. "Speak of Discord" Platinum began as she looked at her Archmage "and where have you been Clover, no wait let me guess, a dangerous experiment that needed to be done but in the end blew up in your face?"
The slight anger behind Platinum's voice caused Clover to flinch a bit and quickly rush behind Hurricane and Pansy as she nodded and whispered "help me" to the both of them. Platinum turned to her with a questioning look that even Hurricane could tell meant that the young Archmage was in trouble. "I know this summons was Important Princess, but by the time I got it I had already started brewing the potion, and" Clover trailed off as she saw the look on Platinum's face and instead moved to hide more behind Hurricane who slightly opened his wings to hide her.
Platinum was about to say something when two new ponies burst through the door. Well one of them burst through the door the other just walked calmly into the room after them. The pony that burst through the door had short brown hair that had specks of what might have been cake in it, while their beautiful orange coat was itself covered in specks of dirt, however, their most important feature was the pudding hat they wore on their head. In fact, each of the ponies now gathered in this room were all dressed in their formal clothing, from Princess Platinum's dress and the Clover's Cloak to Pansy and Hurricane's ceremonial armor. Now added to the mix was a pony dressed in their traditional Chancellor dress as well as an orange coated stallion dressed in a simple tunic with a cap being the only thing holding in his mess of orange hair.
Platinum's attention quickly turned to them, much to the silent relief of Clover, as the two ponies walked in "Ah and our final attendees have arrived, now I know I'm not going to get a straight answer but Puddinghead why are you covered in dirt and cake?" Pudding head turned to face Platinum with the biggest smile on their face as they ran up to her and wrapped her up in a big hug causing Platinum to cringe slightly.
"Well that should be obvious silly I was eating some cake when I got your letter, and then I ran as fast as I could through the mud-soaked streets of Earthville to get Smart Cookie and come straight here," Puddinghead said in a single breath as she slowly put Platinum down.
Meanwhile, Smart cookie came over to talk to Hurricane, Pansy, and Clover with a small smile on his face. "Long time no see old friends," he said as he shook each of their hooves and hugged them for a bit before turning his attention to Clover. "So Clover how did that Irrigation spell go? did you get it working?" Smart Cookie asked causing Clover to blush furiously for some reason that Hurricane didn't understand.
"No, not quite yet, the spell matrix I would need to make would have to be leagues more complicated than a simple water moving spell," Clover said as she stepped out from behind Hurricane who quickly lowered his wings.
Before anything else could be said on the matter however Princess Platinum raised her voice "So now that you are all here I would think it best to start this meeting." After she said that everypony in the room nodded and quickly found their seats around the large circular table in the center of the room. Once everyone was seated Platinum spoke again addressing everyone "It truly is good to see all of you though I do wish the circumstances weren't so dire" she frowned slightly as she continued "as you all know the civil war nearly broke Equestria and worse still our very leader, the only Alicorn left has vanished in what we can only assume is self-exile."
As she finished speaking and sat back down it would be Hurricane who would next break the silence "Equestria's enemies, both foreign and domestic, are now circling like vultures waiting to see if we fall." Hurricane then stood up and pointed at the map of the world in front of him "To our east, across the sea, we have the Griffonian Empire led by Grover II who now seeks to have an audience with the ruler of Equestria." He then pointed at the eastern coast of Equestria "Closer still, in the starting place of the rebellion, are the remnants of the Lunar Loyalist who don't even believe the war is over though they have so far been silent". He then turned to look at one of the guards at the door and then back to the rest of the table saying sternly "finally our military is in a state of disrepair and disunion after the civil war which took some of our best military leaders from us" and with that Hurricane sat down.
The next to stand up was Puddinghead who looked more serious than they normally did as they spoke "the people are unhappy and they need leadership." They then circled with their hoof around western and southern Equestria "in these regions the local government has broken down and the land has collapsed into anarchy as the nobles of this region call for aid against the people who are about ready to storm their castles." They then pointed to central and northern Equestria "These are the only lands that are still under Equestrian rule and haven't fallen into anarchy however the people are not educated enough to understand current events leading to them making uninformed decision showing that we need a royal education system" they finished sitting back down.
For a long while after that, there was silence as nopony could believe that this was what had become of Equestria the beautiful nation they founded. It was Princess Platinum who spoke first however as she rose once again from her seat "Equestria cannot be left leaderless at this most crucial moment in the history of our nation, we need leadership and with Celestia gone for the foreseeable future what we need are regents." Her horn began to glow as she finished and suddenly three headpieces appeared on the table, one of them an ornately decorated dark steel helm decorated with golden laurels, the next was a tophat with a decorative bowl filled with decorative golden pudding on top, and finally a platinum crown with amethysts laid into it. Before anyone else could say anything Platinum began by saying "as the last princess to remain in Equestria and as the niece of Celestia and Luna the title of princess regent falls to me." As she said this she placed the platinum crown on her head and turned to Hurricane "but I cannot do this alone and so my first act as Princess regent is to appoint you, High Commander Hurricane, as the Lord Protector of all of Equestria and my fellow regent."
Hurricane looked at her and simply nodded with a slight smile on his face as he replaced his own helmet with the one sitting on the table. Princess Platinum then turned to Puddinghead "but let neither of us forgets that one cannot rule through regality and might alone, no a good ruler is one who understands the people and so I now appoint you, Chancellor Puddinghead, as the Chancellor of Equestria and my fellow regent". Puddinghead smiled giddily at this and quickly handed their current hat to Smart Cookie and put on the one sitting on the table.
Platinum then spoke one once more this time looking at the other three "and for you three I give the appointments of Clover Archmagos of Equestria, Pansy Weathermistress of Equestria, and Smart Cookie Minister of Equestrian Economics." She then motioned for everypony to stand and said "Now we three regents of Equestria must lead our nation through these horrifying times and when they look at this moment they will see the moment that Equestria changed forever led by the regents' triumvirate" she nodded to Hurricane and Puddinghead "but they will also remember the efforts of our friends and chief advisors" she finished nodding at Smart Cookie, Clover, and Pansy. "now we three must swear our ancient oath to our nation and let our work begin" Platinum said as she grabbed her sword with her magic and held it above the table.
It was soon joined by Hurricane's lance, and then by Puddinghead's scepter as they all swore the very same oath they had seen the princesses swear on their coronation. They spoke with one voice "I swear upon the power of the gods and all that I hold dear to protect this land with my life, to rule fairly, wisely, and justly, at all times and to stand ever vigilant as the shield that guards the ponies of Equestria against all those that seek their destruction."
There was a slight pause then as each of them finished the oath then in one voice alongside Smart Cookie, Clover, and Pansy screamed"For Equestria! For Ponies! For the Empire! For the Princesses!"
Author's Note
And thus begins the age of regents.
A noble stallion walked into the hall filled with his fellow nobleponies, he had a dark brown coat, with thin grey stripes and his black and white spiraled horn being the only things showing that he was not a unicorn, and stood taller than most of the other nobles who he now looked over with his steely grey eyes. He spotted one of them coming towards him, an elegant unicorn mare, whose brilliant white coat alone would have struck many speechless all of which was enhanced by the way the beautifully made white dress hugged her curvaceous form as she walked. He immediately recognized her by her unusually brilliant, almost glowing, pink eyes and her horn, which spiraled much like his beloved princess's and was much longer than the average unicorn. As she approached he grabbed his hat off of his head with one hoof and bowed exactly deep enough for someone of his position when addressing his fellow duke or duchess.
"Oh there's no need to do such things Ras Kibiri, there is no need for formalities between old friends is there?" she said with a bright smile as she looked up at Kibiri.
Kibiri then rose back up out of the bow and smiled back at her and, in a deep voice with an accent that betrayed an unease with the Equestrian language, "well, of course, duchess Fleur-de-lis, but as you know I am still, how do you say, adjusting to the customs of Equestrian nobility".
Fleur's smile grew wider at that "well I believe I have the perfect solution for that" as she said that she motioned for two other noble ponies to come over to her. "Well allow me to introduce you to Duke Golden Light, the Duke of Vanhoover" Fleur said as she motioned towards the taller of the two ponies.
His coat was a golden color, his eyes a matching shade, that exuded radiance. His mane was currently held back by a tophat with tufts of white sticking out from under it. This combined with his lack of a horn or wings showed that he was one of the few earth pony nobles in Equestria. He reached out his left hoof and Kibiri shook it as Fleur began to introduce the second Stallion "and let me also introduce Sir Blueblood of the golden compass".
Sir Blueblood stood out amongst his peers through his diminutive height and the brown coloring of his coat, which contrasted the many brighter, more vibrant shades of his fellow nobles. His horn also stood out as it had the tell-tale chips, scratches, and jaggedness that came from battlefields. Blueblood reached out his hoof to Kibiri who took his in turn.
"And last but most certainly not least let me introduce my old friend, Ras Kibiri of New Ethiponia and Negus Negast of all Etheponian's" Fluer said in her grandiose fashion while pointing towards Kibiri.
Golden Light was the first to speak, his accent sounding slightly unnatural and forced, "Tis good to finally meet you, my good sir, I have heard many tales of you, Celestia's most loyal protector I hear they call you".
Kibiri shook his head "no-no, I cannot accept that title when there are Stallions like Hurricane to protect the Princess, I am but a...", he paused trying to think of the word in this language, "but a loyal servant". Then his steely grey eyes met Blueblood's shy blue eyes, and he saw it written as clear as day across the stallion's face that he was not used to occasions such as this. Kibiri then, to alleviate his anxiety, asked Blueblood "So I am guessing you were knighted in the war Sir Blueblood, how did that occur if I might ask?"
Blueblood's face turned a bright scarlet and he took a minute to compose himself before saying "It that obvious huh" his accent clearly showed a countryside origin with the enunciation or lack thereof. As he saw them all nod he sighed "well as you could probably tell I was born to a mining family in the old country, I was four when the wendigos came twenty years ago and I barely remember what life was like". He paused and took another breath, his voice gaining more confidence with each word, "My father was one of the first to follow Princess Platinum and settle here in Canterville after the concord, I grew up hearing tales of daring heroes fighting to protect us as we founded our new home out here, and then I met her, Princess Celestia". At that his eyes shone in the same way everyone does when they recall their first meeting with Celestia, soon enough however he shook out of it and continued "I had just turned 18 and she needed ponies to join the scouts during the crystal war, and I signed up right away, thanks to my talent I soon found myself the as the head of a scouting mission".
He then paused for a second and looked at each of the people around him slightly embarrassed "Oh I'm sorry for rambling you just wanted to know how I became a knight right?" Everyone nodded and so with renewed vigor he carried on "Well it wasn't until the civil war that I earned my knighthood, I was assigned to scout for the main army defending the capital during the first siege. The people inside the city were starving and with the lunar forces at the gates, there was no possibility of a sortie. The other officers were panicking and none of them could come up with a plan, that was when I had an idea and ran to get a map of the cities pipe network. Aurora had the most advanced pipe network in Equestria, a marvel of engineering, and when I found the maps I was looking for my theory was proven correct". Blueblood paused slightly to take a breath before he continued "The pipes led to a disintegrator outside of the city which had an emergency maintenance tunnel connected to the pipes. So I informed the other officers about this and led them through the sewers where we eventually came out of the maintenance pipe at the disintegration unit. This allowed a large section of the Loyalist forces trapped in Aurora to flank and surround a large portion of the Lunarian army forcing the sane ones to surrender and killing the rest".
As he finished his story Ras Kiribi picked up where he left off "and it was that victory that brought the war to a, how do you say, stalemate". As those words sunk in with the small crowd that had gathered around to hear Bluebloods tale, how Blueblood, through his own intelligence, turned the civil war around and probably saved Equestria, the sound of hooves walking onto the grand stage at the front of the building could be heard. Everyone turned to see who the speaker for this event would be, according to the letter it would have to be someone important for them to be able to tell the gathered nobles about the future of Equestria. What many had expected to see was Celestia in all her regal splendor, they expected her to come down and embrace them all in her warmth and reassure them, as a mother to her children, that everything would be just fine. Instead what they saw were three ponies walking up on stage, all of which were easily recognizable to the assembled nobles, as the Hero's of the Concord and the founders of their nation.
Platinum, Hurricane, and Pudding head, three of the most respected figures in Equestria, stood before the gathered nobles in their most regal attire. As a harsh silence fell across the nobles of the room Princess Platinum took the opportunity to speak "Hello my fellow noble ponies, I know we are probably not the ponies you were expecting but there is much to be discussed". She quickly threw a glance around the room locking eyes with the most influential of the noble ponies, including Ras Kiribi, before continuing "As many of you know Princess Celestia has seemingly vanished after banishing her sister to only she knows where". Many of the nobles simply stood there shocked, one of them even cried out, they had known about Celestia's disappearance but none of them wanted to believe it, none of them thought it could be true, how could she, glorious, radiant, Celestia, mother to us all, simply abandon us?
Kiribi simply stood there the shock of it all set in, he wanted to cry, how could this have happened to lose even one princess to this civil war was tragic but to lose both and especially to lose his sun, his goddess, was too much. His heart raged like the sea at storm as he stood there simply unable to even say anything. Yet he knew he had to be strong, as strong as the great mountains of his people's old homeland, unbending, unbreaking, and a beacon of light to all who looked his way. This was because, as he looked around his fellow noble ponies he saw the same looks on their faces, the despair that could break a pony in two. He saw Golden Light had taken off his hat and was using it to cover his eyes, tears most likely wetting the expensive material, and he saw Fleur fall to her haunches in shock, the corners of her eyes leaking tears onto the floor. The only other pony to remain stoic through all of this was Blueblood who maintained a soldier's discipline as he directed his attention to the occupants of the stage, or more specifically on Princess Platinum. Kiribi finally decided to ask the question they were all wondering "If I may, I believe we are all wondering the same thing, amongst our grief, what does this mean for Equestria, what will our nation do without a leader".
Platinum turned to him and looked into his steely gray eyes, her own lavender eyes shining with determination, as she said "That is exactly why we called you all here". She then turned to address the entire room, speaking with confidence, strength, and grace, "Equestria is a fledgling nation surrounded by threats both internal and external, we cannot be leaderless at this most pivotal moment in our history and with the princesses gone we need ponies to lead us out of these troubled times". She glanced to her sides and saw both Hurricane and Puddinghead standing at her side offering her all of their support. Her voice became even more impassioned as she continued "And so we three have stepped up to lead Equestria, to rebuild this great nation, and to bring Equestria out of her darkest hour as her Regents".
With that there was a long pause as those words sunk in, all of the noble ponies looking over the three ponies who were now their supposed "Regents". Many of the noble ponies looked more shocked than anything else, as they looked at them with trepidation evident in their expressions. Kiribi looked at them judging each one as he recalled what he knew about each of them. His eyes locked with Hurricane who, despite his stoicism, looked uncharacteristically worried. So with that one look, Kiribi decided what he had to do and began beating his hooves on the ground. All the other noble ponies turned to look at him but soon more started to join in. It started with Blueblood who quickly joined in almost as soon as Kiribi started and Golden Light who began just moments after, then Fleur who had gotten herself up and was smiling towards Kiribi, and soon it was an uproarious sound of approval as all of the nobles in the room began stomping their hooves against the ground in applause. Soon enough a cheer went out among the crowd, as they all began to feel renewed with hope and patriotic vigor, and soon they were all chanting in one voice "LONG LIVE THE REGENTS, LONG LIVE EQUESTRIA".
