Fate of the Lostbelt Kingdoms

Chapter Twenty-Two

Town Meeting

To say that the meeting went off with a hitch was an understatement, to say it was chaotic would be the proper word for what Princess Celestia and Princess Luna walked upon as she noticed the ponies within the area of town hall running around like it was the end of the world. Granted this wouldn’t be the first time the citizens of Ponyville acted like this, what with the rampaging bunnies and other weird and dangerous stuff happening. Seeing them gathering supplies as if something big was about to happen was a new thing for them to see.

“I feel that something bad might’ve happened during the meeting,” Celestia said as Luna waved goodbye to the Pegasi guards who flew them into Ponyville.

“Given that we didn’t see a monster causing ponies to run around town, I can assume so," she said before noticing Twilight and the others standing in front of the town hall. Only something was different. “It looks like Twilight and the others are over there at the podium, but something seems off. Shall we go and see what happened?”

“That was the plan,” Celestia said as she motioned for Luna to follow her. Once they were close to the group, they were taken by surprise by seeing Ivan with a cone on his head with the word dunce on it along with the group’s expressions of tiredness and slight defeat. “Pardon me, but did something happen to make the town go into an uproar like this?” She asked before seeing Twilight and her friends stand up in surprise.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, what are you two doing here?” Starlight asked.

“We came here to check on how the meeting went, but something tells me it didn’t go well,” Luna said before looking at Ivan wearing a dunce hat. “Is there a reason Ivan is wearing that on his head?” She asked before noticing the group looking at each other for a moment before hearing Anastasia speak up.

“Well, the plan was to inform the town what’s been going on as we agreed upon…shouldn’t have assumed ponies were similar to the yagas when hearing about the news.” She said before glaring at Ivan. “Nor was telling them that Mr. Boar is a demonic pig that can eat them!”

“In fairness, I didn't get the chance to go into detail about that..though I suppose I should’ve been more tactful with my words,” Ivan said as Celestia and Luna dawned on a worried expression on their faces.

“Um…Perhaps you should start from the beginning and explain what happened at the meeting?” Celestia asked before hearing Twilight explain.

“Well, it started around noon time.”

(Flashback)

(Town Hall)

Within a matter of minutes and preparations beforehand, the group made their way to town hall without being noticed by the citizens standing at the entrance of the building. To say it was crowded was an understatement. From what the two servants could see, it was like a tidal wave of pastel colors outside. A bit blinding due to how offsetting the color was to the servants, but nevertheless. They were here to greet the ponies of Equestria, for better or worse.

“I’m…a bit surprised by this many citizens in this town,” Ivan said as he looked over at the crowd. “Though if I’m being honest, the colors from the ponies are a bit…sickening that it’s making my eyes hurt.” He said, which caused Twilight and her friends to stare at him with raised eyebrows. “No offense.”

“You have eyes?” Rainbow Dash asked, which in turn caused the rider servant to stare at her with a deadpan expression, or what could be his interpretation as a deadpan expression. “What? I figure he was blind or something.”

“The glowing thing you see on his face are his eyes…at least that's what I’ve been guessing at,” Anastasia commented.

“...I should be offended by that statement.”

“Says the one calling out our colors being sickening to your eyes~,” Rarity said with a smirk on her face.

“...Well played,” Ivan said before looking off in the distance at the crowd. “Still baffles me as to why this town is near a forest full of monsters without some kind of protection.” He asks before noticing Applejack opening her mouth to speak but stops upon seeing the servant raise his hand. “And no, relying on you six does not count as protection to a certain degree.”

“Hey, we managed to do a pretty good job at protecting Ponyville.” Rainbow Dash said with her chest sticking out. “Plus we don’t get that many monster attacks daily…maybe once or twice in a month at best.”

“...This town needs some kind of protection place around the forest or a police force of some kind in case of a monster attack if you all aren’t around.”

“We’ll worry about that on a later note,” Twilight said before motioning them to focus their attention on the crowd of ponies in front of them. “Right now we should focus on explaining to them what's going on.”

“And you don’t think they’ll understand the situation?” Anastasia asked as she motioned at the ponies off to the side keeping their distance from the giant demonic boar. “Because they seem to be uncomfortable with the tame demonic beast… whose idea was it to bring the pig here?”

“Well, it wouldn’t feel right just to leave Mr. Boar alone at the cottage with the other animals. He has just as much right to be here for support.” Fluttershy answered as she waved a hoof at the boar, who in turn let out a low snort-like oink.

“And you don’t think he might end up eating the ponies?” Ivan asked as the pegasus shook her head.

“He’s been eating some of the native wildlife in the Everfree Forest ever since last night. Needless to say, I’m sure he’ll be quite full for a long time seeing how he has a means of food source compared to where he was before. Plus he did promise not to hurt anypony so long as they don’t attack him.”

“...I will never get over how this mare is scared of just about everything, but stands her ground when it comes to animals three times her size.”

“That’s the element of kindness for you,” Pinkie Pie said, appearing on Ivan’s shoulder. “Oh, you can get a pretty good view of the crowd from up here!”

“Please get off me and never use me as a means of a viewing point.”

“No promises, but okay!” She said before jumping off of the servant’s shoulder and slowly landing on the ground. Ivan stared at the earth pony in slight disbelief as he looked over at Twilight who simply shook her head.

“No…just…don’t.” She said before turning her attention onto the crowd and moving towards the podium. The moment she was there, the ponies that were talking among themselves went silent as Twilight cleared her throat before speaking. “Good evening everypony. I would like to start by saying thank you for coming to town hall for this important meeting. Now I know a lot of you have been wondering what’s been going on for the past two to three days-”

“You bet we are!” yelled Cranky as he pointed a hoof at the fantasy tree. “That thing has been an eyesore since the day it arrived! My wife and I can’t even get a proper sleep with that flower glowing so bright!”

“Yeah, not to mention how come Trixie can’t use her magic?” Trixie asked as she demonstrated her lack of magic by trying to levitate a small rock from off the ground. “Trixie isn’t the only one with this problem, other unicorns have this issue as well. Trixie wants an explanation for this at once!”

“Not only that but the weather’s been acting strange. Normally we can move the cloud to make way for the sun. But they keep returning after an hour or so. It’s like they have a mind of their own or something!” Thunderlane added. “Seriously, it’s making our jobs a lot harder than usual.”

“I had a feeling there was going to be a change in environment, but I didn’t think it would happen this quickly.” Twilight thought before glazing over at Ivan and Anastasia. “How do you explain the concept of a lostbelt and servants to a group of ponies with little understanding of it.” It was only when the Rider servant noticed Twilight’s nervous expression that he decided to make his way over to the podium that Twilight was standing behind. The moment he saw the mic, he gently picked it up without breaking it and began to speak.

“Greetings inhabitants of this country. Let me be the first to say how pleased it is to see this many ponies coming to welcome us to your country.” Ivan said as the ponies looked upon him in confusion.

“Who are you?” asked a random stallion in the crowd.

“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ivan Vasilyevich, Tsar of Russia, or in your case, King of Russia.” He said before gesturing a hand towards Anastasia. “And this is the lovely Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, Queen of Russia.” Upon saying that the caster servant would wave at the crowd awkwardly. “Now I understand you have questions about what’s been going on. So I’ll try my best to explain the situation to you all as simply as possible.”

“You think the big guy can handle this?” Rainbow Dash whispered as the caster servant shrugged.

“Don’t know. Never did see how well he does with a crowd of people before. Maybe he might do a better job than I can?” She whispered before looking over at Ivan. “At least I hope he can.”

(Present time)

“He did not do a good job.” Rainbow Dash said as she deadpanned at Ivan. “If anything he made it worse.”

“Oh? How worse could it have been?” Luna asked, trying her best to keep a stoic expression, but it was clear to Celestia that it was slowly breaking.

“...Well…”

(Flashback)

To say it was bad was an understatement. It was one thing if he told them about who they were, where they came from, and how they came to Equestria. But the fact that the former Tsar went into great detail about both the good aspect and the horrible aspects of what a lostbelt was, how Russia became a lostbelt, and the horrible actions they’ve committed within said lostbelt, didn’t help win them any favors from the ponies of Ponyville. The moment he finished his explanation, he turned his attention onto Twilight and the others, who were in shock at what he did. Though Anastasia would facepalm herself to believe Ivan would be a bit more tactful in his speech. Upon noticing their expression, he quickly looked over at the crowd and noticed their shocked expressions.

“Hm, not the expression I was going for. Perhaps it was too much for them to understand.” He said before speaking. “I hope what I said wasn’t too confusing. Perhaps a similar explanation might help?”

“Everypony, run for your lives!” yelled Roseluck as it caused everyone within the crowd to scream and run around in fear.

“Hm, perhaps I should’ve kept out the gruesome parts of the lostbelt until later?” He said before feeling Anastasia and Rainbow Dash smack him upside the back of his head.

“You think!?” both Anastasia and Rainbow Dash said in unison.

“What in tarnation were you thinking saying something like that!?” asked Applejack. “I know you’re honest, but not everypony will be okay with you telling the whole truth!”

“Well, the Yagas do a better job at handling news. I kind of assume you ponies would do the same.” He said before looking back at the screaming ponies. “Though given their reaction, I probably should’ve been tactful with my words.”

“Okay, so new rule. Never let Ivan talk to a crowd without someone supervising him, agree?” Anastasia asked as the ponies nodded in agreement. “Okay, so how are we going to fix the issue before it gets any worse?”

“We’ll spread out and see if we can calm everypony down so we can do a better job at explaining things. Hopefully, we’ll be able to try and make them see reason without causing even-” Before Twilight could finish explaining her plan, she noticed a male and female donkey making his way over to Ivan.

“So you're the reason why I haven’t been able to get a good night's sleep? Nice going idiot. I hope you have some way to turn that stupid flower thing off.” Cranky said before kicking Ivan in the shin. “Do you know how hard it is to sleep with that thing glowing in the dead of night? I hope you have some way of turning it off.”

“...I’m starting to understand the folly of being too blunt and open about certain things.”

(Present Time)

“And that’s pretty much where we are right now.” Pinkie Pie said as the princesses looked at each other for a moment before looking at the group.

“Perhaps we should’ve come here first before doing anything else before hoof,” Celesia said as she noticed Luna taking flight.

“I will gather the ponies to the town hall, you’ll explain the situation to them and reassure them that nothing bad will happen to them,” Luna suggested as she motioned for Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash to follow her before quickly flying off through town with them. Once they left, Celestia turned her attention to Ivan and the others before speaking.

“Is there anything I need to know before hoof? Specifically what Ivan told the ponies of Ponyville?”

“He kind of told them everything, from the creation of their lostbelt, Chaldea, the war in the lostbelt, him being an evil king that’s far worse than King Sombra or Discord, etc, etc.” Pinkie Pie said while casually laying on Ivan’s shoulder.

“I thought I said not to use me as a stepping stone.”

“And I said no promises~,” She said before jumping off his shoulder.

“Right, suppose it could be worse,” Celestia said before making her way over to the podium. “Go and assist Luna in gathering the ponies back, I will keep an eye on Ivan and Anastasia and see if we can work on making things better upon your return.” She ordered, as Twilight and her friends quickly rushed off through town to try and calm the fleeing ponies.