She breathed in a good lungful of the cold morning air as she stood upon her balcony. Looking out to the horizon, to the far hills and silhouettes of tall factory chimneys that dotted her view, she could see the light of the early dawn. Elsewhere, she could hear the sound of bells being run to signal the start of the new day, and though the chill of the early hours sent a shiver down her spine, she hid it well. Smiling, Sunset leaned against the balcony railing, it's cold metal complimenting the rest of the cool atmosphere around her, and after taking in the sight of the capital around her, bathed in the rising sun, she nodded to herself. "A good day."
"Well, we can only hope."
Sunset's smile widened to the second voice, and she turned to see a young lady, about her age, stepping out onto the balcony to join her. Seeing her new companion adjusting her glasses and approach her, she gave a slight bow of her head. "Miss Sparkle. Always a pleasure."
The other girl rolled her eyes slightly. "And good morning to you too, Colonel Shimmer."
Sunset chuckled. "Colonel...I honestly thought I'd never see the day."
Now beside her, Twilight placed her hand upon her shoulder. "Few deserve it as much as you do. Congratulations. I know you'll do our country proud."
Raising her own hand, Sunset gently placed it on Twilight's. "Thank you." She then smirked. "And I hear congratulations are in order for you too. The personal aide to the Empress herself, eh?"
Twilight blushed. "It's a huge honour. I just hope I'm up to the task."
Sunset waved her off. "Pfft! Are you kidding? You're the most organised and studious person in the whole Empire! You'd have to be a damned fool not to recognise your value."
Twilight looked to her mischievously. "Well, you might be slightly biased on that point, Sunset."
Sunset gave her a playful nudge with her elbow. "Maybe, but it's still true and you know it."
Reaching up to make sure her hair bun was done right, Twilight mused on the situation. "In any event, I start my new duties tomorrow. So I'll need to get my new uniform sorted out pretty quickly."
Sunset, leaning back onto the balcony railing again, gestured with her head to a nearby building. "I'd head over to Rarity then. That girl is a master when it comes to getting fancy clothes made quickly."
Looking back to her, Twilight considered those words before giving her a knowing smile. "I imagine she'd have been thrilled if you'd actually gone to her for your wedding dress. You should have seen her bawling when she heard you were forgoing it."
A quick shrug from Sunset. "What can I say? The marriage was political, so I figured there wasn't much call for all the pomp and circumstance of ceremony."
Twilight glanced left and right, as if worried somebody might overhear them, then leaned in closer and brought her voice down to a whisper. "Speaking of which, how are things with him right now?"
Sunset thought on that, tapping her chin briefly, before answering. "Well, Flash and I served together for a long time before the decision about us was made, so I'd say we get along with it fairly well."
Twilight blinked a couple of times, then nudged her glasses down so they were resting just on the edge of her nose. "Anything else to report on the matter?"
Sunset too glanced around to make sure they were alone, then wiggled her eyebrows slightly. "Well, not that I want to fuel the rumour mills...but let's just say he performs his husbandly duties...satisfactorily." The two shared a laugh together, but when it ended Sunset seemed a bit more dour than she had been moments ago. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to spend much time with you lately, Twilight. Flash keeps reminding me I should make time for it, but...."
Twilight shook her head. "Hey, it's no problem. With your new position you'll be pretty busy. Heck, you've been busy for some time now. All those preparations and such." She paused, then looked to her somewhat amorously. "Although, your husband isn't exactly wrong. I could assume control of your scheduling, if you like. Help squeeze in a few personal moments for us?"
Folding her arms, Sunset chortled. "Honestly, at this point I wonder if I'm going to have any personal time left. The army's getting busier every passing day. You know how much the state demands of it."
Looking out to the horizon herself, Twilight nodded in agreement. "True, but if you were to ask anyone outside the Empire, you know what they'd say."
Sunset nodded as well, turning to look upon the same view as her lover. "Oh yeah. Our state doesn't have an army. Our army has a state." After a second or two, Sunset frowned. "But I wouldn't hold much stock in what all those other nations have to say about us."
Twilight glanced in her direction, her expression one of mild concern. "I realise you soldiers aren't exactly fond of them, but..."
Sunset shook her head. "You know as well as I do that everyone else on the continent sees us as the bad guys, Twilight." She gestured to the city around them. "A generation ago, our Empire didn't even exist. Were like scattered pieces of a jigsaw. A tiny kingdom here, a duchy there, maybe a fledgling republic or two. And we'd have likely stayed that way if it hadn't been for the efforts of our Empress."
Twilight gave a slight and solemn bow of her head. "Glory to Celestia."
Sunset followed suit. "Glory to Celestia," she repeated. "With her and her sister the Chancellor working together, they took all the pitiful little nations of our part of the continent and turned them into something special. Something strong. Something to be proud of." Her frown deepened. "And ever since that unprecedented accomplishment, what was it we got from our neighbours? Respect at what was done? Perhaps an open hand of friendship for this new nation that had been made?"
Twilight sighed, knowing full well what the answer was. "...No."
"No," Sunset concurred. "Instead, we get looked at like we're a threat. Like us simply being around is some disaster waiting to happen for the rest of them. Oh sure, they were all chummy-chummy when they were the biggest kids in the playground, but as soon as our neighbourhood comes together to get into their weight class, all of a sudden we're some dangerous upstarts."
Twilight, though she could not find it in her to call her beloved incorrect in her description of the situation, nevertheless tried to pay the diplomat here. "Try to see things from their perspective, Sunny. The world's been more-or-less the same for some time now. Having something like our Empire happen, as if overnight, is going to give anyone pause. And since our parents' generation got their hands dirty a few times along the way to making it happen, it's not hard to see why others might not be all that happy to have us on their borders."
But Sunset was clearly not convinced. "Sure, something like this couldn't have been predicted, and big changes scare people. I get that. But that's no excuse for everyone in the world to think of us as some absurd supervillains who'll just attack them at the slightest provocation!" She scoffed. "And after all the blood they've all got on their own hands from over the years, it's rich they'd ever criticise us!"
This time it was Twilight's turn to fold her arms. "Word on the grapevine is that all this work you and the army are doing is to get them more prepared and capable than any other force on the continent. If I know that, everyone else will too, and I doubt they'll just assume you're doing it for altruistic reasons."
Hearing that, Sunset again spoke as if the point was nothing to be concerned about. "We're surrounded on all sides by people who think the worst of us, Twilight. Potential enemies to the west, potential enemies to the east, it's our responsibility to keep ourselves ready in case they try anything." She reached out, taking her lover's hand into her own. "If we really want to be the great nation we claim to be, to have the rest of the world look to us as equals, we need to make sure we have the strength to back up that claim."
Though Twilight was comforted by the feel of Sunset's touch, it was clear that her fears were not leaving her. "I know history, Sunset. Every tome and text we have on the past. Not just ours, but everyone else's. And in all that I've learned one thing." She paused briefly before continuing. "Most don't try to build strength unless they plan on using it."
Sunset smiled, clearly trying to reassure her. "It won't come to that, I promise you. We're just covering our bases."
Slowly, Twilight glanced away. "So is everyone else." Feeling Sunset's confused gaze on her, she elaborated. "My position affords me more news about the rest of the world than yours does, Sunset. And the news is troubling. Reports of troop gatherings, increases in arms productions, new alliances being made left, right and centre. Couple all that with all the troubles some of the smaller nations have had lately and the whole continent just feels like...like a powder keg." She finally looked back to her, staring her right in the eye. "The way things are...it would only take a spark. One little thing." Looking away again, to as far a distance as her poor eyesight could take her, she whispered. "I'm scared."
To say that Sunset didn't at least understand where Twilight was coming from would have been a lie. However, ever the dutiful partner she was, she knew she needed to try and impart at least some of the confidence about the situation that she herself felt. So, after carefully guiding Twilight's face to look at her, she spoke with the same calm assurance she normally would. "I'll admit, if I were swamped in all that bad news from around the world, I'd likely quake in my boots too. But you know what? You don't need to worry about a thing, Twilight. And do you know why?" After seeing the other girl shake her head, she answered her own question. "Because nobody wants a war. Ask anyone, from any country, and they'll tell you the same thing. That a fight would be the most ludicrous thing in the world. With us and our neighbours as strong as we are, conflict would be a bloodbath without any reward that could ever make up for it. And you'd have to be an utter madman to willingly allow that kind of chaos to simply happen."
"You...you really think it'll be okay? That people will choose peace over stirring things up?"
Sunset put her hand on Twilight's cheek. "I do. Leaders are meant to act in their people's best interests. And peace is always better for those people than war. Have faith, Twilight. Faith that those who hold the reins won't simply throw their nations into an inferno." She waited just long enough to see Twilight smile back to her, then added a little something extra to her statement. "Besides, if anyone does go too far with us, I'm pretty sure we'll have them beat by Christmas."
Twilight pushed her away, giggling as she did so. "You are terrible sometimes!" Once again the two shared a laugh, which did a lot to lift them up from the serious mood they'd been through for the last few minutes. But when that laugh ended Twilight took her glasses off, whipping out a handkerchief from her pocket to give it a good clean. "Well, I wish I could stay and talk with you more, but I've got work to do."
Sunset looked to her with curiosity. "Oh? More paperwork?"
Putting her glasses back on, Twilight sighed. "I wish. I need to think of ideas for an anniversary present to send to the heir of one of our allies. He and his wife are taking a bit of a road-trip and Empress Celestia wanted to send them something nice to commemorate the occasion."
Sunset considered that, then shrugged. "Well, push comes to shove you can always come over and visit Flash for ideas. He's way more into that romantic stuff than I am."
Twilight smirked to her. "True. He always fawns over the sight of us together after all."
Sunset chuckled, looking again to the sunrise that had well and truly risen over their beloved and pristine capital. "With those like us in the Empire, who love and care as well as we do...how could it ever falter?"
Author's Note
For many years now, I have been an absolute sucker for fiction that emulates the look and feel of pre-WW1 Europe. The politics, the shaky alliances, the general aesthetic, the tense feeling of knowing the kind of disaster that's looming on the horizon, I've utterly lapped it up. I've been wanting to do a story about that kind of thing for some time now, and finally I get to try it out 
